GM faces deadline on Mexico issue
Three U.S. lawmakers asked General Motors Co. to address reports of labor violations at a truck plant in central Mexico that was dragged into a workers’ rights dispute after authorities found irregularities in an employees’ vote on a union contract.
The three Democrats including Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bill Pascrell of New Jersey on Tuesday wrote to GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra, asking her for details on the auto company’s role in what happened and whether the manufacturer will commit to ensuring future votes are independently verified.
GM didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“GM has a responsibility to speak out against violations of labor and humanrights abuses at the Silao GM plant, and has an overarching responsibility to ensure that workers at its facilities throughout Mexico who exercise their rights in the workplace do so free from threats or retaliation,” the lawmakers said.
Mexico’s Labor Ministry in April said it shut down the vote at the Silao, Guanajuato, plant after discovering unused ballots were destroyed. When it asked the union to deliver for inspection the votes that had been cast — about half of the 6,494 unionized workers had voted — the syndicate refused, according to a report by the ministry.
The Biden administration is setting up its trade policy to prioritize enforcement of existing commitments by U.S. partners. Democrats and American labor unions made strong worker rules and enforcement mechanisms for Mexico a key demand to win their support for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that went into force in July. They were concerned that the pact the USMCA replaced was lacking on these provisions.
Pascrell — with Dan Kildee of Michigan and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon — gave Barra until May 25 to respond.
The reported acts at Silao “appear to violate the USMCA, and we expect the U.S. government to aggressively investigate and use all available remedies under the USMCA to effectively address violations and demonstrate publicly that labor rights will be protected.”