Mexico, US close labor complaint at Draxton plant in Mexico

Jun 23, 2023

MEXICO CITY, July 31 (Reuters) -

The U.S. and Mexico have resolved a worker rights probe at aDraxton auto parts plant in central Mexico, officials said onMonday, marking the latest labor complaint to be closed under aregional trade deal.

The U.S. government in May asked Mexico to review whetherworkers were being blocked from forming a new union at DraxtonMexico in the central city of Irapuato, in Guanajuato state. Theplant makes iron and aluminum parts for carmakers such asChrysler, Ford and Audi.

Draxton is a unit of Mexico's Grupo Industrial Saltillo.

The U.S. has filed 11 such complaints in Mexico underthe 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA) as partof a

historic effort

to support the rights of workers to form unions. Some caseshave paved the way for new labor representation and higherwages.

At Draxton, Mexican officials found that variousinstances appeared to violate worker rights, including companyinterference in union activity, the Mexican economy and laborministries said in a joint statement.

As part of a U.S.-Mexico remediation plan with an Oct. 31deadline, Mexican officials will ensure that Draxton issues aneutrality statement and trains personnel on adhering to it, theU.S. Trade Representative's office said.

The company will also re-hire a union representativewith back pay who had been "unlawfully dismissed for advocatingfor workers," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in astatement.

Draxton did not respond to a request for comment.

The dismissed union leader, Carlos Gonzalez, said in aninterview that he lost his job more than a year ago.

He was eager to return to his workplace of a dozen yearsto encourage colleagues to defend their right to form unions andto campaign for

SINTTIA

, an independent labor group, to represent the plant in apush for better salaries.

"They shouldn't be intimidated or give up. Noteverything ends with a dismissal," he said.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon and Kylie Madry; Editing byBill Berkrot and Leslie Adler)