Firm agrees to measures for free union vote

MEXICO CITY — The U.S. parent company of a Mexican factory said Tuesday it has agreed to measures to ensure a free labor vote amid a battle by workers to unseat an old-guard union.

The Cardone company operates the Tridonex auto parts plant in Mexico’s border city of Matamoros.

The export facility was the subject of a complaint filed by labor unions in May under the U.s.-mexico Canada free trade agreement, known as the USMCA. The complaint argued that new unions have been harassed and supporters fired for fighting corrupt old unions that have kept wages low in Mexico for decades.

Cardone said in a statement that it will work with Mexican authorities “to ensure a personal, free, and secret vote by employees” at the Tridonex plant.

The Philadelphia-based company pledged to inform “employees of their rights to collective bargaining and freedom of association and an absence of retaliation or discrimination if they exercise those rights.” It also said it will provide all workers with a copy of the current labor contract, something old-line unions in Mexico frequently don’t allow employees to see. Cardone said it will also provide some additional compensation for some fired employees.

The independent union trying to organize the plant said it had not been consulted about the agreement. The outside organizer of that union, lawyer Susana Prieto, said, “We do not approve of the agreement.”

“The United States has reached an agreement with Tridonex without taking into account the working class, violating its rights,” Prieto said.