(Adds context, background on contract vote)
WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY, May 22 (Reuters) –
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office on Monday said it has asked Mexico to investigate labor rights denial claims at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co plant in central Mexico in the latest “rapid response” probe under North American trade rules.
USTR said the request comes after an independent Mexican union, La Liga, petitioned U.S. labor officials to open a case, alleging worker rights had been denied at Goodyear in the central state of San Luis Potosi.
Since the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement on trade, known as the USMCA, took effect in 2020, USTR has launched a number of factory-specific labor rights complaints against automotive facilities in Mexico.
Several cases have led to elections of independent unions that have secured better pay and benefits.
Goodyear workers in San Luis Potosi voted this month to reject their collective contract, dealing a blow to the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), one of Mexico’s biggest labor organizations.
The union had faced accusations from
Mexican labor authorities
of having initially attempted to meddle in the process by stealing ballots.
“The workers at the Goodyear rubber tire facility in San Luis Potosi have expressed their will. We now look to Goodyear to treat their workers fairly,” said Thea Lee, deputy undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Labor Department, in a statement.
Goodyear and Mexican authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the U.S. request for a USMCA probe.
The tiremaker previously said it is committed to ensuring workers can freely choose their union and carry out collective bargaining.
(Reporting by David Lawder in Washington and Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico City; Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter and Chris Reese)