Mexico, U.S. close VU Manufacturing complaint in fifth USMCA labor probe
By Daina Beth Solomon
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico and america have resolved the newest in a collection of labor complaints beneath a regional commerce pact, saying on Wednesday that staff at auto-parts plant VU Manufacturing in northern Mexico had been capable of elect the union of their alternative.
U.S. officers in July referred to as for a probe beneath the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Settlement (USMCA), the fifth such case aiming to enhance office circumstances in Mexico, after activists alleged the corporate interfered in staff’ efforts to pick their union.
Michigan-based VU Manufacturing, whose manufacturing unit within the Mexican border metropolis of Piedras Negras produces inside automotive components together with arm-rests and door upholstery, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
U.S. labor officers stated the Mexican authorities educated staff and skilled administration to make sure a good union election on Aug. 31, together with asking the corporate to concern an announcement vowing to remain impartial.
The Mexican authorities additionally requested vote observers from Mexico’s electoral institute and the United Nations-backed Worldwide Labor Group.
Employees in the end elected an impartial union, La Liga Sindical Obrera Mexicana, which can negotiate the plant’s first collective contract, protecting some 400 individuals.
“Employees at Manufacturas VU Auto Elements facility now have a union – chosen via a good election – with whom they’re consulting as they put together for negotiations,” U.S. Labor Minister Marty Walsh stated in an announcement.
Their rights to free affiliation and collective bargaining had beforehand been denied, the assertion added.
Mexico’s economic system and labor ministries stated the peaceable vote ensured staff may elect the group they believed would greatest characterize their pursuits, and officers would proceed monitoring employee rights on the manufacturing unit.
Earlier USMCA labor complaints led to probes at Mexican crops owned by firms together with carmakers Basic Motors and Stellantis.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Modifying by Anthony Esposito, Jonathan Oatis and Josie Kao)
