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Reform Agency
Friday, March 17, 2023 | 12:11
Mexico City.- Mexico accepted the request sent by the United States to investigate whether or not there are violations of labor rights at the Unique Fabricating plant, located in Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro.
The Secretariats of Economy and Labor informed that the US was notified today of the admission of the request for review and they have a period of 45 days to issue a determination.
It should be noted that on March 6, the US government notified the request for review regarding an alleged denial of rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining at the Unique Fabricating de México facility.
“This request for review warns of alleged acts of interference and anti-union discrimination by the company, which interfere with the right of the workers of Unique Fabricating de México to organize and freely choose the union that best represents them,” said the Secretariat of Economy in a statement.
The organization “Trade Union Transformation” was the one that promoted the complaint under the Rapid Response Mechanism, within the framework of the T-MEC.
He warned of favoritism from the company and even from local labor authorities towards the “President Adolfo López Mateos” National Union of Workers and Employees of Commerce in General and Private Schools, who is the holder of the collective bargaining agreement, which is adhered to a Federation, called FASIM.
Parallel to the labor complaint filed under the TMEC, “Union Transformation” filed appeals before a local labor court, which ordered the company to recognize the members of this union and allow them access to the facilities to carry out union work.
In addition to this, on March 16, the votes for the legitimization of the collective contract in Unique Fabricating were carried out, however, it was not approved by the majority of the workers.
The result was 100 votes in favor of the collective agreement and 100 against, with two invalid votes.
“With this result, the collective contract is not legitimized, but it safeguards the rights of the Union attached to FASIM to reschedule the legitimation consultation,” said Humberto Hutrón, legal representative of “Union Transformation.”
He anticipated that before a vote is reconvened to legitimize the contract, a recount can proceed so that the workers decide which union they want to represent them.
