Workers at Mexico GM plant end contract, oust union in vote

3 years ago 294

MEXICO CITY – Workers astatine a General Motors works successful Mexico person voted to extremity a corporate bargaining declaration negotiated by an aged defender national accused of intimidation tactics successful earlier votes. It was an aboriginal show of the effectiveness of labour mechanisms negotiated nether the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement.

Nearly 6,000 workers astatine the GM works successful Silao voted implicit 2 days, according to a connection from Mexico’s Labor Ministry connected Thursday. In the last tally, the “nos” were 3,214 to 2,623 votes successful favor.

The ballot means the declaration is terminated, but the workers support the aforesaid benefits and labour conditions. The ballot was a rejection of the union, portion of the Confederation of Mexican Workers. A caller radical has been moving to signifier the plant’s workers.

The ballot spanned Tuesday and Wednesday and was held wrong the works with observers from the Labor Ministry, National Electoral Institute and the United Nations’ International Labor Organization.

The conditions for the ballot “demonstrate the government’s committedness to national ideology and respecting the volition of the workers,” the Labor Ministry said successful the statement.

GM said successful a connection that accumulation astatine the Silao works would proceed nether the presumption of the existent statement until a caller 1 is negotiated and approved by a bulk vote. The Labor ministry volition contented a last solution wrong 20 concern days.

“General Motors appreciates that the GM Silao Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) legitimizing process was carried retired with precocious information and nary incidents person been reported by the Ministry of Labor,” the connection said. “For GM it is precise important that employees person been capable to workout their rights successful a personal, free, concealed and nonstop form. GM besides appreciates the collaboration of the U.S. and Mexican governments and of the autarkic observers who supervised the exercise.”

In May, the U.S. authorities filed a ailment nether the USMCA aft the aged national was caught allegedly destroying ballots successful an earlier vote.

For decades, corrupt Mexican unions signed low-wage “protection contracts” down workers’ backs.

The “rapid response” mechanisms nether the commercialized pact let a sheet to find whether Mexico is enforcing labour laws that let workers to take their national and ballot connected contracts and national leadership. If Mexico is recovered not to beryllium enforcing its laws, sanctions could beryllium invoked, including prohibiting immoderate products from entering the United States. The May ailment was the archetypal to beryllium filed nether the USMCA.

Mexican car workers marque one-eighth to one-tenth of the wages of their U.S. counterparts, thing that has spurred a monolithic relocation of car plants to Mexico and a nonaccomplishment of U.S. jobs.

For decades, national votes successful Mexico were held by amusement of hands, oregon not astatine all. Workers astatine galore factories successful Mexico were unaware they adjacent had a national until they saw dues deducted from their paychecks.

As portion of efforts to get the USMCA, which replaced the aged North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico passed labour instrumentality reforms stating each national votes would beryllium by concealed ballot, and workers astatine each factories successful Mexico could ballot connected whether to support their existent union.

It was 1 specified ballot among the 6,494 employees of GM transmission and pickup plants successful Silao successful April that triggered the complaint.

Workers astatine the works had been asked to ballot yes oregon nary connected whether to admit the national that has agelong controlled the plant’s labour contract. That national is portion of the Confederation of Mexican Workers, oregon CTM, which formed portion of the enactment that ruled Mexico for astir of the past century.

Mexico’s Labor Ministry declared that ballot invalid.

Generating Movement, an effort to signifier workers wrong the plant, celebrated the ballot and said it was moving to registry arsenic a national and hoped to correspond the workers successful the adjacent declaration negotiation.

Hector de la Cueva, a national advisor and coordinator of the Labor and Union Advisory Research Center, compared the CTM to a “zombie” and said they would effort to get back.

“Now what is connected the array is which national is going to motion the caller corporate contract?” de la Cueva said astatine a Generating Movement quality league successful Silao. “The workers showed that determination is large discontent and they rejected that CTM declaration and besides that union.”

The CTM had not commented connected the results of the vote.

Read Entire Article