LatinNews Daily - 17 August 2022

* The US and Mexico have announced the successful resolution of a labour rights review which had been requested under the Rapid Response Labour Mechanism (RRLM) in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on regional trade. The case relates to the Teksid Hierro automotive parts facility in Mexico’s Frontera municipality, Coahuila state. In May 2022, the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), and Mexican union Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros, Metalúrgicos, Siderúrgicos y Similares de la República Mexicana (SNTMMSSRM) filed the RRM petition, complaining that workers at the plant were unable to freely choose their trade union, instead being strong-armed into joining unions that were colluding with the company and blocking collective bargaining efforts. According to a press release by the US Trade Representative following the resolution, among other things, union dues withheld from workers and owed to SNTMMSSRM will be paid while 36 workers previously fired by the company will be re-hired and paid back 100% of their lost wages. US Secretary of Labour Marty Walsh said that these measures will “help end eight years of rights violations against Teksid workers and advance their freedom of association and ability to collectively bargain.”  A press release by his office notes that the Teksid petition marks the fourth time the US government has successfully used the RRLM to benefit workers.

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