US and Mexico Resolve Workers’ Rights Dispute at Mexican Plant

The United States and Mexico have resolved a workers’ rights dispute at an Akwel manufacturing plant in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, following measures by the company and Mexican authorities to address allegations of interference with union activity and retaliation against workers.

The resolution allows the United States to resume the processing of previously unliquidated imports from the facility, after US authorities determined that the labour-rights concerns that prompted the case had been addressed.

The dispute involved Akwel Juárez México, a facility operated by French automotive supplier Akwel. Workers and a Mexican labour union had alleged that employees were denied their rights to organise and bargain collectively.

As part of the agreement reached by the US and Mexico, Akwel reinstated three workers with full back pay and benefits and paid full severance to six others, based on their individual preferences.

The company also restructured its human resources and labour relations functions and took disciplinary action against employees found to have violated workers’ rights. It introduced new guidelines on freedom of association and collective bargaining, trained its workforce on the rules and committed to annual retraining.

Akwel also established an anonymous and confidential system through which workers can report alleged violations. The company is required to keep information on workers’ rights, its collective bargaining agreement, training materials and complaint procedures readily available to employees.

Mexican authorities separately monitored the facility’s compliance with the agreed measures and national labour laws. They provided workers with training on their rights to organise and bargain collectively, while supervisors, human resources staff and labour relations officials received separate training.

Mexico also maintained reporting channels for workers to raise allegations of unlawful interference and imposed sanctions, including financial penalties, on Akwel for violations of Mexican labour law.

The case began in October 2024, when the Mexican union Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores y Empleados Especializados, Conexos y Similares de la República Mexicana, known as SINATAM, and 10 workers filed a petition with the US Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement.

The petition alleged that Akwel had refused to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the union, dismissed workers because of their union affiliation, and threatened or harassed employees to discourage union activity.

After reviewing the petition, the US committee determined that there was sufficient credible evidence of a denial of workers’ rights to initiate a formal review under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

The United States asked Mexico to review the case on November 22, 2024. Mexico accepted the request and concluded on January 6, 2025 that workers’ rights had been denied at the facility.

Washington and Mexico subsequently agreed on a remediation programme, which ran until January 31, 2026. The US government said it monitored the company’s compliance with the measures before determining that the concerns had been resolved.

The US Trade Representative has now directed the Treasury Department to resume liquidation of previously unliquidated entries of goods from the Akwel facility.

The case was handled under the USMCA’s facility-specific labour enforcement process, which allows the US and Mexico to address alleged labour-rights violations at individual Mexican facilities.

Source: FSX Business News