The top U.S. trade official has asked Mexican authorities to review whether workers at a Stellantis facility are being denied their labor rights.
The request from U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai about the Teksid Hierro de Mexico facility, which produces iron castings for heavy trucks, was made through a labor violation reporting mechanism that is part of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the trade deal that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
That mechanism was employed by U.S. officials in connection with a union-related election last year at a General Motors plant in Silao, Mexico, where workers later secured an 8.5% raise as part of contract negotiations with a new union at the plant.
The Teksid facility, which has almost 1,500 workers, according to a company website, is part of Stellantis, which also owns Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Maserati.
Tai and U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh issued a joint announcement Monday on the U.S. request to review whether workers at the plant in Frontera in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila were being denied their free association and collective bargaining rights.
“We continue to use the USMCA’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism to defend workers’ rights and remain committed to working closely with the Mexican government to do so,” Tai said in a news release. “When our trade policy helps to ensure that workers in all countries can exercise their rights, it helps drive a race to the top.”
Walsh, in the release, noted that “we look forward to collaborating with the government of Mexico to ensure that workers can choose their union representatives freely and without interference.”
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The release said that Mexico has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and 45 days to complete one if it does.
The request for a review followed a petition about the alleged violations sent to a committee co-chaired by Tai and Walsh from the UAW, AFL-CIO and the National Union of Mining, Metallurgical, Steel and Similar Workers of the Mexican Republic, a Mexican labor union, the release said.
The committee “determined that there is sufficient credible evidence of a denial of rights,” the release said.
A Reuters story in May about the possibility that U.S. officials might request the review noted that the dispute at the plant dates to 2014 and that workers have been fired, according to activists.
Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson provided a statement, saying that “Stellantis respects and supports the collective bargaining rights of its employees around the world and will comply with all local laws in that regard.”
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.