US asks Mexico to review labor rights at Grupo México mine

The US has asked Mexico to review whether workers at the San Martín mine in Zacatecas state are being denied rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, trade representative Katherine Tai announced. 

San Martin is a lead, zinc and copper mine owned and operated by the Grupo México conglomerate.  

“The request, which was made in response to a petition, marks the eleventh time the United States has formally invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA),” the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said in a statement.   

Grupo México and the economy ministry did not immediately respond when contacted for comment by BNamericas.

Tai recalled that earlier this week, the US also invoked the RRM at an Industrias del Interior (Inisa) garment facility, the first time this tool has been used in that sector. 

“This mechanism complements Mexico’s labor reforms as our governments work together to create real and tangible change. We are grateful to our stakeholder partners for promptly raising these issues and look forward to working with the government of Mexico in the weeks ahead,” Tai said. 

“Respect for a union’s status as the exclusive collective bargaining representative and its right to strike are critical components of Mexico’s labor reform,” added deputy undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee. 

In connection with the US request, Tai has directed the secretary of the treasury to suspend the final settlement of customs accounts related to entries of goods from the San Martín facility.  

On May 15, the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC) received an RRM petition from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the United Steel Workers (USW) and Mexico’s national union of mining, metallurgical, iron and steel, and similar workers.  

The petition alleged that Grupo México has resumed operations at the San Martín mine despite an ongoing strike and has engaged in collective bargaining with a coalition of workers despite the fact that the Mexican union holds the right to represent workers for purposes of collective bargaining.  

The ILC reviews RRM petitions that it receives and the accompanying information within 30 days. In response, it determined that there is sufficient and credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the invocation of enforcement mechanisms.