“Domestic and foreign workers have the right to collectively bargain for fair wages and good working conditions without fear of retaliation,” US Trade Representative (USTR), Catherine Tai, said in a statement from her office.
USTR and auto parts company Tridonex, based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, (North), agreed to compensate 154 workers fired from the plant with at least nine months’ wages. The late payment total exceeds $600,000, the newspaper detailed.
The agreement follows a June 9 request by the United States to Mexico to review the grievances of wage earners based on the commitments made in the new free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC). The result was.
The Mexican government accepted the request on 19 June and established that, if labor abuse is determined, “a course of redress must be agreed upon with US government counterparts”.
Tridonex, a subsidiary of American Cardone Industries, should also “support the right of its employees to determine their union representation without coercion, including protecting their employees from bullying and harassment,” Tai said. “
This is the second time that a mechanism has been used to protect union rights provided for in the T-MEC, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in July 2020.
The first occurred in May last year, when Washington asked T-MEC, its southern neighbor, to determine whether workers’ union rights were violated at the General Motors (GM) plant in Silao (Guanajuato, downtown). Is.
The T-MEC Labor Chapter mandates Canada, the United States and Mexico to guarantee authentic collective bargaining, union democracy, and freedom of union for employees of companies doing business in the region.
Mexico enacted a labor reform demanded by Democrats in the US Congress to pass the T-MEC in 2019.
General Motors
