The U.S. announced June 12 that it has asked Mexico to review whether workers at an Industrias del Interior denim garment facility in the state of Aguascalientes are being denied the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. In connection with this request the U.S. will suspend the final settlement of customs accounts related to entries of goods from this facility.
According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, this marks the tenth time the U.S. has formally invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement but the first time it has done so in the garment sector. All previous requests concerned the automotive sector.
USTR states that the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement, which comprises USTR and the Department of Labor, received a petition alleging that the Mexican company has coerced workers into accepting its proposed collective bargaining agreement revisions, intervened in the internal affairs of the union representing workers at the facility in question, and failed to bargain in good faith with that union. The ILC subsequently determined that there is sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms.
According to USTR, Mexico now has ten days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days to complete the review.
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