[CTC] Mexico, U.S. agree GM Silao union vote will be held by Aug 20

Fri Jul 9 11:24:02 PDT 2021

UAW statement below article

https://www.reuters.com/business/mexico-us-agree-gm-silao-union-vote-will-be-held-by-aug-20-ustr-2021-07-08/

Business <https://www.reuters.com/business>
Mexico, U.S. agree GM Silao union vote will be held by Aug 20

WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY, July 8 (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico on Thursday agreed that a new union vote will be held at the General Motors (GM.N) <https://www.reuters.com/companies/GM.N> Silao plant by Aug. 20, the U.S. Trade Representative's Office (USTR) and Mexico’s economy ministry said.

Both countries released a joint statement that said Mexico has agreed to a number of safeguards before the vote, including having Mexican federal inspectors and impartial international observers from the International Labor Organization at the facility ahead of the vote. Mexico said in May that it would review labor practices at the GM plant in central Mexico after a formal complaint from USTR.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement the agreement with Mexico will allow workers to vote on whether to approve their collective bargaining agreement in "free and democratic conditions." She praised Mexico "for taking swift action when they recognized that workers’ rights were denied."

Last month, Mexico sent a letter that formally kicked off a joint negotiation to resolve the U.S. complaint.

Workers had voted in April on whether to keep their current contract, however, halfway through Mexican officials detected "serious irregularities", including destroyed ballots and scrapped the vote.

The findings prompted the United States to ask Mexico to review the case for possible rights violations under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Mexico agreed to "investigate and, as appropriate, sanction anyone responsible for the conduct that led to the suspension of the April vote and any other violation of law related to that vote... or in connection with the August vote."

The announcement came after 10 days of intense negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico, a senior U.S. official told Reuters.

Mexico's labor ministry said in June that the union at the plant, which employs about 6,000 people in the central city of Silao, must hold a new vote before Aug. 20 or lose the contract altogether.

GM said in a statement it was pleased with the agreement between the United States and Mexico "to support a free and fair vote in August. We look forward to continuing to work with U.S. and Mexican government officials in support of the shared goal to protect workers’ rights."

USTR said GM will issue a statement of neutrality ahead of the vote and have a zero-tolerance policy for retaliation.

The U.S. official confirmed the contract would be terminated if the vote does not occur by Aug. 20. The Labor Ministry will oversee the vote, ensure the ballots and voting area are secure, the official added, saying there will be more than five times as many Mexican federal inspectors than the prior vote.

Labor remedies under the USMCA include revoking tariff-free access for the violating factory's goods.

In GM's case, that could mean applying a 25% U.S. pickup truck import tariff on Silao-made trucks, a move that could add thousands of dollars to each vehicle's cost.

The so-called request for review marks the first use of the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism in USMCA, which allows countries to target labor rights violations at specific factories.

Reporting by David Shepardson and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Leslie Adler and Diane Craft

https://uaw.org/joint-statement-uaw-president-ray-curry-uaw-vice-president-terry-dittes-director-uaw-general-motors-department-ustr-progress-towards-addressing-rights-abuses-gm-silao/

JOINT STATEMENT FROM UAW PRESIDENT RAY CURRY AND UAW VICE PRESIDENT TERRY DITTES DIRECTOR OF THE UAW GENERAL MOTORS DEPARTMENT ON USTR PROGRESS TOWARDS ADDRESSING RIGHTS ABUSES AT GM SILAO
“For decades, Mexican workers’ voices have been suppressed by a dysfunctional and corrupt labor law system. In too many cases, employers have coordinated with anti-democratic unions to create “protection” contracts that impose draconian wages and labor conditions on workers. These practices have depressed Mexican workers’ wages, benefits, and working conditions. Mexican autoworkers earn a fraction of what U.S. autoworkers earn, creating a perverse incentive for U.S. companies to invest in Mexico. The UAW believes this needs to change and continues to firmly believe that companies should produce the vehicles in the markets they predominantly serve. This isn’t just sound economics for our communities, but it allows workers making the products we consume, the opportunity to earn good wages and benefits, work in a safe environment, and have the right to organize. Likewise, workers in Mexico deserve the right to democratically elected union representation and collectively bargained wages and conditions.

In the past several years there have been attempts to address Mexico’s broken labor law system through both the 2019 Mexican labor reform and the labor obligations under the United States-Mexico- Canada Agreement (USMCA). As part of these reforms, companies must run a “legitimation” vote between now and 2023 to ensure that workers approve of their collective bargaining agreement.

The historic agreement between the Biden Administration and the Mexican government is aimed at providing the workers of the General Motors Silao facility in Mexico the ability to vote on whether to approve their collective bargaining agreement under free and democratic conditions. The agreement lays out a series of commitments negotiated by the parties to address serious rights violations that occurred during a legitimation vote in April 2021. The agreement also sends a clear signal that workers’ fundamental rights on both sides of the border will no longer be ignored and are the focal point of our international trade agenda. We commend Ambassador Tai for putting the interests of workers front and center.

On April 20_ 21, 2021, workers at the GM facility in Silao, Mexico were blatantly denied their right to a free and fair union election when the protection union, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), was caught red-handed destroying ballots. This and other irregularities resulted in the Mexican government calling the vote null and void, and criminal charges against the CTM were filed.

A new vote is scheduled to take place on August 20. Today’s agreement is an important step towards ensuring workers in Silao will no longer be subject to such abuses and will have their rights protected.  We will continue to closely monitor the commitments made in this agreement to ensure these workers have a voice in their workplace.  The UAW believes in the right of every worker to have a free and fair election in their workplace.”

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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