The largest U.S. labor union is leading a complaint over working conditions at an auto parts factory in Mexico, the first case to test whether enforcement provisions in a new trade agreement can help to improve working conditions.
The AFL-CIO, together with other organizations filed a complaint against Tridonex, a factory in Matamoros in the northern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, they said in a statement Monday. It’s the first complaint filed under the rapid-response mechanism of the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement, which went into force in July and replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The AFL-CIO and Democrats made strong labor rules and enforcement mechanisms for Mexico a key demand to win their support for the USMCA in 2019, concerned that the pact it was replacing lacked both. U.S. labor unions have long complained that Mexican factories under NAFTA denied workers’ rights to keep down salaries and unfairly undercut the U.S. on cost.
In …