U.S. lawmakers urge GM, Mexico to safeguard worker rights ahead of

By David Shepardson and Daina Beth Solomon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Three U.S. lawmakers on Friday urged General Motors (NYSE:) and the Mexican government to safeguard worker rights ahead of a union vote next week of Mexican autoworkers at a pick-up truck plant in central Mexico.

Representative Earl Blumenauer, who chairs a House Ways and Means subcommittee on trade, along with Representatives Bill Pascrell and Dan Kildee raised concerns Friday about reports of worker intimidation ahead of next week’s union election at GM’s Silao plant in Guanajuato, where it builds the Silverado.

“It is imperative that GM and Mexico’s labor authority ensure that every single worker may cast a secret ballot freely and without intimidation,” the lawmakers said.

GM said Friday it has “been absolutely committed to working with the Mexican authorities, the work force, vote observers and all partners, including the (Biden) Administration and U.S. Congress to provide the environment for a free and fair election by the workers of Silao.”

GM added it looks forward “to working with whichever union leadership is selected by our work force, and addressing any worker concerns in the agreement negotiation process to follow the vote.”

Mexico’s Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration, which is organizing the vote, said Friday it has taken various steps to ensure a fair vote, including launching an email account to receive worker complaints and inspecting the plant to ensure access for voters.

The election will allow some 7,000 workers at the Silao plant to choose among four new unions in line with a Mexican labor reform aimed at ensuring freedom of association, a key tenet of a new trade deal with the United States and Canada.

A vote last year on the collective contract was initially marred by irregularities, including destroyed ballots, prompting the U.S. government to demand ramped-up scrutiny in a formal complaint under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Workers eventually voted to dissolve the contract, opening the door to elect a new union.

For decades, workers at companies across Mexico have often faced intimidation tied to contentious union votes and efforts to organize.

U.S. officials in September closed https://www.reuters.com/business/us-trade-office-says-gm-mexico-labor-case-concluded-tariff-threat-lifted-2021-09-22 the GM complaint about last year’s vote, but the U.S. Department of Labor and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative are still tracking the issue, a U.S. government labor committee report said last week.