Article 931 Federal Labor Law

If the vote count of the employees is offered as evidence, the following rules shall be observed:

I.Repealed.

II.Only the employees of the company who attend the vote count shall have the right to vote;

III.Employees who have been dismissed from work after the date of presentation of the notice brief shall be considered employees of the company;

IV.The votes of the employees in positions of trust shall not be counted, nor those of the employees who have entered work after the date of presentation of the strike notice brief; and

V.The offering of the vote-count evidence must be made in the brief of application of the non-existence of the strike contemplated in section I of Article 930 of this Law, to which shall be accompanied the list with the names of the employees who will be consulted, so that a copy of it is served on the opposing party;

VI.The opposing party of the one who requested the non-existence of the strike, at the moment of making its statements on the grounds of non-existence, shall exhibit at the hearing for the qualification of the strike the list with the names of the employees who in its opinion have the right to participate in the vote count. The hearing for the qualification of the strike shall be deferred in terms of section IV of Article 930 of this Law, in order to prepare and take the vote-count evidence by means of a personal, free, direct and secret vote;

VII.In the event that from the lists of employees offered by the parties and the elements gathered it is observed that there is coincidence in them or that the parties agree to prepare a single one, the Court shall take it to serve as the register. In the event of differences regarding the lists, notice shall be given to the parties at the hearing for the qualification of the strike so that they make the objections to the list presented by their opponent, in which case an incident shall be opened in which the parties shall offer and render the evidence related to their objections, which shall be substantiated in the following seventy-two hours. Once the evidence offered by the parties has been taken, the Judge shall prepare the register that shall serve for the vote count;

VIII.Within the following five days the Court shall set the place, day and hour at which the vote count of the employees shall be carried out, which shall be carried out within a term of no more than ten days; this term may be extended for an equal period in the event that in the Court's judgment there is a material impossibility of carrying out the vote count within said term. The consultation of the employees shall be carried out by means of a personal, free, direct and secret vote, in the presence of the judge or of the officials he designates;

IX.The taking of the evidence shall be carried out on the day and hour ordered, at the place or places indicated by the Court. It shall begin with the presence of the parties who attend and, prior to the entry of the employees, the judge or the officials designated shall install the necessary voting screens for crossing the ballots in secret and the transparent ballot box or boxes for their deposit, verifying that they are empty and without any legend. Immediately thereafter, upon prior identification with an official document, the entry of the employees with the right to vote shall proceed and each one shall be provided with their ballot to exercise it;

X.In order to ensure the secrecy of the vote, no sign or data that allows identifying the number of the ballot given to the employee shall appear on the ballots or on the list; said ballot shall contain two boxes, one in favor of the strike and the other against it. Each employee shall mark their ballot, fold it and deposit it in the ballot box, withdrawing from the voting place. Once the proceeding is finished, the judge or the officials designated shall proceed to carry out the count, opening the ballot boxes successively, extracting the voting ballots one by one and examining them to corroborate their authenticity and exhibiting them to the view of the representatives of the parties and authorized observers attending; ballots not crossed or marked in more than one of the boxes or false shall be null;

XI.Once the count is finished, the judge or the officials designated shall proceed to the count of votes and announce the result aloud. Once the proceeding is finished, a record of it shall be drawn up and the representatives of the parties who wish to do so shall be invited to sign it, and

XII.In the event that acts of pressure or intimidation are raised against the employees that tend to violate or impede their freedom of vote or obstruct their entry to the place of the proceeding, the judge or the officials designated shall request the aid of the public security forces and shall provide what is pertinent so that the vote count is carried out in the conditions established by this Law and, if the existence of some criminal offense is presumed, the report of facts shall be presented before the competent authority.