[CTC] First Comprehensive Review of USMCA Labor Cases Shows Tool Delivered Wins, but Structural Gaps Threaten Long-Term Success

[Arthur Stamoulis]

First Comprehensive Review of USMCA Labor Cases Shows Tool Delivered Wins,
but Structural Gaps Threaten Long-Term Success



*Recently Initiated Six-Year USMCA Review Must Include Improvements to the
USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism for Intended Benefits to Materialize*



Washington, D.C. – A new report by American Economic Liberties Project’s
Rethink Trade finds <https://rethinktrade.org/closingthegaprrm/> that the
Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) established in the 2020 United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) delivered concrete wins for tens of
thousands of workers in its initial years, but that gains have diminished
in recent years. Rethink Trade identifies improvements necessary for the
RRM to continue to bolster workers’ rights across North America that can be
made during the mandatory USMCA six-year review.



This report is the first comprehensive analysis measuring the RRM’s
success. Because this is the first enforcement tool in any trade pact
worldwide to authorize facility-specific trade sanctions for company
violations of labor rights, its outcomes have importance beyond North
America.



“I fought hard for the USMCA agreement to be different from our trade deals
of the past, which drove a race to the bottom and sold out American workers
by looking the other way when other countries cheated to drive down prices
by allowing union busting or paying workers poverty wages,” *said
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Chair of the House Trade Working Group
and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member.* “The statutory review
of the USMCA, which is now getting underway, presents a critical
opportunity to revisit and revamp the Rapid Response Mechanism to ensure
that it can accomplish what we intended it to do.”



“This report offers a timely assessment of the USMCA’s Rapid Response
Mechanism, and I want to thank Rethink Trade for their contribution to this
critical conversation,” *said Congresswoman Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Ranking
Member of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee.* “Civil society engagement
remains essential to ensuring that trade agreements deliver real results
for workers. Democrats fought hard with President Trump to include the RRM
as part of the renegotiated USMCA – recognizing that enforceable labor
rights must be at the center of our trade policies. As we approach the
six-year review of the agreement, we must conduct a comprehensive review
that identifies what is working with the RRM and gaps where the USMCA has
fallen short. I look forward to engaging with civil society to ensure that
USMCA delivers concrete results for American workers.”



“The mechanism allows any interested party to petition for a case. It also
expedites enforcement of collective bargaining rights and it allows for
targeted penalties. As a facility-specific mechanism, it allows for action
against the direct violators. All of this is incredibly important, but it’s
not enough. This mechanism alone has not been able to ensure that Mexican
workers have widespread access to true union representation, and it’s
nowhere near enough to address the continuing threats to the jobs and
living standards of American workers,”* said Roxanne Brown, International
Vice President at Large of the United Steelworkers (USW).*



“Promoting corporate accountability through trade agreements with a
mechanism that is both rapid and has real teeth upends the logic of
traditional free trade agreements, which too often focused on granting
corporate privileges without obligations,” *said Daniel Rangel, Research
Director at Rethink Trade and lead author of the study.* “To protect this
progress and ensure the RRM lives up to its potential, essential
improvements must be made in the 2026 review to block corporate strategies
that evade accountability and to strengthen labor rights enforcement in
North America.”



“While the RRM opened the door, the walk through that door has been slowed
by appeals, legal maneuvers, and judicial bottlenecks. That is what we
believe must change. The mechanism is fast, but the domestic structures are
still too slow, and justice delayed becomes justice denied, as we all know,”
 *said Captain Ángel Domínguez Catzín, President of the Mexican College of
Pilots.* “The RRM can break through, but unless it’s faster, stronger, and
backed by real accountability, victories risk being only symbolic.”



“By far, the Rapid Response Mechanism is in a league of its own. How
quickly it gives relief to workers is exceptional. That being said, there
is a lot of work still to be done,”* said Jason Wade, Top Advisor to the
President of the United Auto Workers (UAW). *“Mexican workers’ wages have
been suppressed for decades. Even if we had a thousand Rapid Response
cases, and even if people were under bargaining and fought as hard as they
could, it will not happen fast enough. That’s why the UAW is advocating for
a sectoral minimum wage that short-circuits some of that work. We can’t
make workers whole for all the years they were paid substandard wages, but
we can take corrective actions to ensure the wealth that they produce for
these companies starts being reflected in their paycheck.”



“The reality is that all those efforts haven’t actually changed the reality
on the ground in any significant way for the Mexican working class or for
workers in the U.S. who are affected by this,” *said Benjamin Davis, USW’s
International Affairs Director.* “The mechanism has had some impact in some
places and probably a demonstration effect on top of that, but it has not
actually changed the reality. We have to change that reality.”



*Key Findings from* *Closing the Gap: Evaluating Rapid Response Labor
Mechanism Outcomes and Charting a Path Through the 2026 USMCA Review*



·         Between July 2020 and June 2025, the United States initiated 37
RRM cases targeting 36 facilities involving mining, call centers and air
transport services, food, electronics, apparel, and, most notably,
automotive sector manufacturing.

·         By mid-2025, nearly two-thirds of concluded RRM cases resulted in
the reinstatement of workers dismissed in retaliation for their union
activities or preferences. Moreover, in seven cases, the petitioner union
gained access to the offending facility, and in five instances, companies
committed to recognize and bargain with the petitioner union. These
outcomes stand out as the system’s most significant achievements.

·         In the agreement’s first few years of operation, it was more
common for RRM cases to result in new union representation and collective
contracts. Since 2023, most cases initiated have not resulted in new union
representation or a new collective bargaining agreement.

·         Governments are “resolving” too many cases without securing
long-term gains for workers. Of the 32 cases concluded by mid-2025, half
were “resolved during review.” The legal consequences of this type of
outcome, such as whether it counts as a first violation in the
three-strikes penalty escalation system, are not clearly outlined in the
agreements.

·         Some common remedial actions, such as company neutrality
statements and freedom of association trainings, did not result in lasting
changes at targeted facilities, as shown by the recent *Atento Servicios* RRM
panel report. This decision could serve to strengthen remedies in future
cases.

·         Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, we
discovered that 56 petitions were filed during the first five years of the
RRM, although one was later withdrawn. Information on RRM petition filings
and why petitions are rejected is not publicly available, which hinders
government accountability and denies users of the system critical
information about how to prepare successful petitions.

*Recommendations for the 2026 USMCA Review:*

*Targeted Adjustments*:

1.      Shorten the respondent Party’s period for internal review.

2.      Extend or modify the Interagency Labor Committee’s deadline to
determine whether to invoke a panel.

3.      Require Parties to consult with stakeholders—especially
petitioners—when developing remediation actions and disclose investigation
findings while safeguarding witness workers.

4.      Clarify that a “Resolved During Review” outcome counts as a Denial
of Rights Determination and strike one for escalating enforcement penalties.

*Systemic Improvements*:

1.      Add a substantive obligation requiring all USMCA Parties to ensure
employers bargain in good faith.

2.      Require Mexico’s Federal Center for Labor Conciliation and
Registration to have sanctioning authority.

3.      Isolate fact-finding aspects of the RRM process and make it
equally applicable to all USMCA Parties.

*See the report **here* <https://rethinktrade.org/closingthegaprrm/>*. *

*Rethink Trade is a program of the American Economic Liberties Project.*

*Learn more about **Economic Liberties* <https://www.economicliberties.us/>
* and **Rethink Trade* <https://www.rethinktrade.org/>*.*

###



*The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system
of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic
liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic
Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses
large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work;
commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of
subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and
monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and
democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political
power.*
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