Labor inspector points out Mexico’s “weaknesses” in promoting workers’ rights Reuters

Dana Beth Solomon

Mexico City (Reuters)-A US advisory committee responsible for monitoring Mexico’s compliance with the new regional trade agreement said Mexico’s efforts to eliminate “significant weaknesses” in the employment contracts signed behind workers should be reformed.

The Independent Mexican Labor Expert Committee (IMLEB) marked a controversial ballot at a General Motors (NYSE:) plant as an example of a flaw in Mexico’s new labor law, which requires “legalization” of voting to end the universality of unions and companies The practice is to sign a contract without the worker’s knowledge.

This is also a priority of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) a year ago and included a mechanism to sanction companies that do not comply with labor provisions.

“There are still very obvious weaknesses in the legalization process,” IMLEB said in a report to US labor officials and legislators on Wednesday.

The Mexican Ministry of Labor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It said it was looking for ways to improve the approval voting process.

A union-led vote held by General Motors at its Guanajuato plant in April was cancelled after Mexican officials discovered problems including the destruction of the ballot. In this vote, workers will choose whether to keep the current collective contract.

One of the board’s concerns is that the union responsible for organizing such voting is not neutral.

The report said: “Voting at the General Motors plant in Silao, Guanajuato puts the risks involved into the focus of attention.”

The board of directors recommends that government representatives vote and have the power to investigate and resolve issues. It also recommended that if the union commits any “serious violations” during the voting period, the contract should be cancelled.

The Mexican Labor Department told the General Motors Union that it must re-vote before August 20, or it will lose the contract, and is working with the United States to develop a remedial plan after the U.S. authorities file a complaint under the USMCA labor clause.

So far, only a small percentage of Mexico’s tens of thousands of contracts that should be legalized under the new rules have voted before the May 2023 deadline, and the Labor Department said some unions may let their contracts expire.

The board of directors warned that even passing the 80,000 to 100,000 contracts that are expected to be voted on may require a lot of work with more than 100 votes per day for two years.