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 Mondelez Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V. (Mondelez), located in the city and state of Puebla, Mexico, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The United States has suspended liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from the Mondelez facility, which manufactures confectionary goods, beverages, and other food products.
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 the Union General de Mexico (UGM), a Mexican independent union, alleging ongoing Denials of Rights at the Mondelez facility in Puebla. The petition alleges that Mondelez and the incumbent union at the facility have violated workers’ rights by interfering in union activity and retaliating against workers because of their attempts to organize an independent union at the facility, including through threats, denial of access to the facility, discriminatory job reassignments, firings, and layoffs. 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 Mondelez 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.
A copy of the letter to the Secretary of the Treasury can be found here.
Information about previous requests can be found here.
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