WASHINGTON – United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai released the following statement after workers at a General Motors facility in Silao, Mexico, voted to select a new union to represent them in future collective bargaining negotiations.
“The historic vote this week to choose a union at the General Motors facility in Silao is a victory for workers. It is also a victory for the Mexican government’s Federal Center for Conciliation and Registration – which oversaw the vote,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai. “The USMCA’s tools help protect collective bargaining rights and freedom of association for workers. The next, and equally critical, stage of the process will be good faith bargaining between General Motors and the new union. The United States will continue to work with our Mexican counterparts to protect the rights of workers.”
This vote comes after the United States invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism in United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s (USMCA) for the first time last May concerning a vote by workers at the facility in April 2021 on whether to approve their collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In July, the United States and Mexico agreed upon a comprehensive course of remediation to address the denial of the right of free association and collective bargaining experienced by workers at the facility. Pursuant to that course of remediation, workers rejected the CBA in a free and fair vote held in August 2021. Rejection of the CBA opened a process for workers to select a union to negotiate their new CBA, and that process culminated in this week’s vote.
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