Mexico begins labor dispute review at GM following US request

May 12, 2021 | 4:50 p.m.

Editor’s Note: This note was first published on May 12 at 9:04 am and has been updated with information from the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

The Mexican government will begin reviewing alleged worker rights violations at the General Motors truck plant in Silao, Guanajuato, after receiving a request from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

If so, Mexico will share the results of the review and any proposed reform in writing.

The Ministry of Economy (SE) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (STPS) indicated through a joint statement.

The agencies indicated that regardless of the request, STPS reported Tuesday that it had found “serious irregularities in the union-led workers’ vote at the plant at GMIt has ordered a new procedure to take place within the next 30 days.

US Trade Representative Catherine Tye said Wednesday morning that her agency and the Department of Labor received “information that appears to indicate serious violations” of workers’ rights during the union vote vote in April. GM In Silao, Guanajuato.

The request from the United States marks the first time that a country has used T-MEC’s ​​Rapid Response Labor Mechanism, which allows its North American members to address worker rights violations in specific factories. Tai helped negotiate a workers’ rights mechanism on behalf of Democrats in the US Congress.

The review comes amid pressure from US lawmakers GMAfter authorities in Mexico said that some ballot papers were destroyed during the vote, which was intended for 6,000 union workers at the Silao factory to certify their employment contract.

The main US goal for T-MEC, which was negotiated by the administration of former President Donald Trump, was to strengthen Mexican unions to help raise wages and limit the migration of American auto production to Mexico.

GM It won major changes at T-MEC that allowed it to continue building hundreds of thousands of top-class trucks Picks High profitability in Mexico, destined for export to the United States.

In a statement, Tai praised Mexico for “its intervention to suspend voting when it noticed voting irregularities” and said that the US action “will complement Mexico’s efforts to ensure that these workers can fully exercise their rights to collective bargaining.”

The factory in Silao is the focus of strategy GM In truck production in North America, where it has produced more than 339,000 Chevrolet Silverado and GMSierra full-size in 2019, more than a third of the total 906,000 cars the company built that year.