LatinNews Daily - 26 September 2023

* The US Department of Labour has announced that the US has asked Mexico to review whether workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining are being denied at the Teklas automotive parts plant in Aguascalientes state. This comes after the company was accused by the Liga Sindical Obrera Mexicana, a Mexican labour union, of retaliating against four workers who were engaging in protected union activities by dismissing them. The press release from the Department of Labour describes Teklas as a Turkish-owned company which supplies global automotive fluid circulation systems for original equipment manufacturers, and which employs 600 workers at its Aguascalientes plant. The Department of Labour investigated the claim against Teklas, which was made in a petition filed by the trade union under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)’s Rapid Response Labour Mechanism (RRLM) in August this year. Mexico’s government has ten days to decide whether to conduct a review and if it chooses to do so, it has 45 days to investigate the claims and present its findings. The Department of Labour noted that this was the 14th time that the US has formally invoked the RRLM. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the request “underscores the United States’ commitment to using the tools established in the USMCA to protect workers’ rights to organise for and join the union of their choice.” Mexico’s government has recently declined to review two labour rights requests. One, concerning a mine in Zacatecas state, is being taken to a dispute resolution panel.