WASHINGTON – The Office of the United States Trade Representative has invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to review whether workers at a floating hotel facility operated by Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement Mexico LTD., S. de R.L. de C.V. (BSM) and P.M.I. Norteamérica S.A. de C.V. (PMI NASA), both located in Campeche, Mexico, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. BSM provides ship manning services, including technical and crew management, for Mexican- and foreign-flagged vessels. PMI NASA owns the floating hotel vessels at issue and provides offshore support vessel and ship management services.
Background
The United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Labor co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC). On November 12, 2025, the ILC received an RRM petition from Orden Mexicana de Profesionales Marítimos y Portuarios, Similares y Conexos (ORDEN), a Mexican independent union. The petition alleges that the companies violated workers’ rights by interfering in employees’ union activity, preventing a worker strike from taking place, threatening and intimidating workers during a forced disembarkation of floating hotel vessels, and illegally dismissing and replacing striking workers after PMI NASA canceled its contract with BSM. The ILC reviews RRM petitions that it receives, and the accompanying information, within 30 days.
After conducting this review, the ILC determined that there is sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms. As a result, the United States Trade Representative has submitted a request to Mexico to review whether workers at the facility are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Mexico has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days from today to complete the review.
A copy of the request for review can be found here.
Information about previous requests can be found here.
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