United States: White House invokes worker protection clause in USMCA trade agreement

The US government has asked its counterpart in Mexico to investigate accusations of “gross labor rights violations” at a plant of automobile manufacturer General Motors, located in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Katherine Tai, the US Trade Representative, has harnessed the new labour enforcement mechanism in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which was renegotiated by the Donald Trump administration. The USMCA, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, came into force in summer last year. It is supposed to protect workers’ right of association and their right to bargain collectively on wages. The union at the GM plant in Silao has been accused tampering with a vote on a wage agreement. It is alleged that unionists linked to the employer reduced the timeframe for voting and destroyed ballot papers with votes cast against. Under the USMCA, the “rapid response” clause allows an investigation to be opened by the Mexican government. If the latter disagrees with the White House, the US government may ultimately impose financial sanctions on car imports to the US. The Mexican labour ministry has already suspended the election when the “irregularities” were reported.