The Mexican government announced on Wednesday that the labor case of Manufacturas VU under the Mexico-U.S.-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has been concluded.
With this, three of the five initial cases have been resolved, including those of General Motors and Tridomex.
In addition, labor complaints from Panasonic and Teksid plants are ongoing, according to information from the Ministries of Labor and Economy.
In the case of the Manufacturas VU facility, located in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, and as part of the remediation, on August 31 a consultation was held for the Certificate of Representation, which took place in peaceful conditions and with certainty through a personal, free, direct and secret vote, guaranteeing the right of the workers to decide on the union that will best represent their interests in the collective bargaining agreement.
With the foregoing, the facts that were subject to investigation under the MLRR were effectively solved, within the 45 calendar day term established by the Treaty for the internal investigation by the Government of Mexico.
USMCA
In the framework of the USMCA, two requests for review under the Labor Rapid Response Mechanism (MLRR) established in its Annex 31-A were satisfactorily addressed.
Regarding the first case of the General Motors automotive plant located in Silao, Guanajuato, the reparation course between the governments of Mexico and the United States was successfully concluded, which aimed to guarantee conditions for unionized workers to participate in the process of legitimizing their collective bargaining agreement through a personal, free, direct and secret vote, which took place in August 2021.
This guaranteed the rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining while safeguarding the commercial benefits of the USMCA for companies in Mexico.
Regarding the second case of the Tridonex auto parts plant, located in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, the Mexican Government argued that the USMCA could not be applied retroactively in accordance with international law principles.
However, outside of the MLRR, the STPS ensured that the recount test was conducted under conditions that provided certainty for workers to exercise their personal, free, direct and secret vote. This voting exercise was carried out on February 28, 2022.
CTM
Regarding the complaint filed on May 18, 2022 related to the case of the Panasonic company, supplier of screens for cars located in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, it was due to the fact that the company refused to recognize the National Independent Union of Industrial and Service Workers (SNITIS) as the titular union despite having obtained the certificate of representativeness issued by the Federal Labor Center.
The company improperly signed a protection contract with the CTM without the support of the workers. Mexico admitted the complaint and in less than 45 days the company was able to get SNITIS recognized as the sole holder of the collective bargaining agreement and agreed to a 9.5 percent wage increase, the reinstatement and indemnification of dismissed workers, and the reimbursement of union dues.
