04/09/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/09/2024 13:07
WASHINGTON - The United States announced today the successful resolution of a United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) facility-specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) matter at the Teklas Automotive facility in Aguascalientes, where workers were previously denied their freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. Since October 2023, Mexico and the company have taken a series of remediation measures to address labor violations occurring at the facility, including the retaliatory termination of union officials and employer interference in union activities. Based on these measures, the United States concluded that the denial of rights concerns raised in our request for review has been remediated. USTR has directed the Secretary of the Treasury to resume liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from the facility.
"As we close this case, we recognize the success of the RRM in cultivating an environment where workers' rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining are respected," said Ambassador Katherine Tai. "We commend the Government of Mexico and Teklas for their commitment over the last few months to remediate the denial of rights that occurred. We are hopeful that these actions have laid the groundwork for better union-employer relations at the facility."
"We commend the government of Mexico and the company for taking concrete steps to ensure that human resource personnel do not interfere with workers' rights to choose a representative union and for reinstating workers who were fired for trying to exercise that right," said Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee. "The U.S. government will continue to monitor the situation at the facility, including the ongoing collective bargaining process."
Actions taken by the facility to address the matter include:
Actions taken by the Government of Mexico to address the matter include:
Background
The United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Labor co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC). On August 24, 2023, the ILC received an RRM petition from La Liga Sindical Obrera Mexicana (LSOM), an independent Mexican union, and the International Lawyers Attending Workers Network (ILAW Network). The petition alleged that Teklas threatened and dismissed workers in retaliation for undertaking union organizing activity. The ILC reviews RRM petitions that it receives, and the accompanying information, within 30 days. The ILC determined that there was sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms.
As a result, the United States Trade Representative submitted a request to Mexico that Mexico review whether workers at the Teklas Automotive facility were being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Mexico agreed, and on November 9, 2023, concluded there were ongoing denial of rights related to freedom of association and collective bargaining at the facility. Since then, the company and Mexico have taken a series of steps to address the denial of rights, which the United States has reviewed and concluded to have remedied the situation.
A copy of the request for review can be found here.
A copy of the letter to the Secretary of the Treasury can be found here.
Information about previous requests can be found here.
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