LatinNews Daily - 05 October 2023

*The governments of Mexico and the US have announced a resolution to the dispute regarding the Japanese automobile supplier Grupo Yazaki plant located in Mexico’s Léon city, Guanajuato state, which was reached outside of the US-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA)’s Rapid Response Labour Mechanism (RRM). A review of the matter was requested in August by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) under the RRM after receiving a petition alleging workers’ rights violations at the facility in relation to a workers’ contract vote. However, Mexico declined to review the labour rights request. Despite this, a USTR statement says that a resolution has been reached after various actions were taken. These include: Grupo Yazaki posting a neutrality statement on its North American website and distributing physical copies in Mexico “affirming its commitment to safeguarding the right to freedom of association and sharing an internal hotline for workers to submit concerns related to their labour rights”; the Mexican government and International Labour Organization “delivering trainings on freedom of association and collective bargaining rights at the facility for workers, for company representatives, and union representatives”; and the Mexican government posting a statement in the Planta León facility “explaining that dissemination of misinformation during union democracy votes is considered an irregularity and should be reported to government authorities”.