Seventh USMCA Rapid Response Labor Case Filed

Posted Tuesday, March 7, 2023 3:54 pm

The Administration – for the seventh time – invoked the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s rapid response labor mechanism, this time over whether workers at an American facility in Mexico are being denied the rights of free association and collective bargaining.

The March 6 complaint against the Auburn-Hills Michigan-based Unique Fabricating facility in Santiago de Querétaro,is in response to a petition received from a number of Mexican labor organizations. USMCA allows the United States to take enforcement actions against individual factories if they fail to comply with domestic freedom of association and collective bargaining laws.

As a result, the US Trade Representative has submitted a request that Mexico review whether workers at the Unique facility are being denied the right of free association and collective bargaining. Mexico has ten days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days from today to complete the review.

In connection with the request, Ambassador Katherine Tai has directed the Treasury Secretary to suspend the liquidation for all unliquidated entries of goods from the Unique Fabricating facility.

So far all USMCA Labor actions taken against Mexican employers have been against subsidiaries of American corporate parents, known as maquiladoras. In addition to Unique's plant in central Mezico, Rapid Response complaints have targeted:

General Motors facility in Silao, Mexico
Brookfield Asset Management’s Cardone Industries facility in Matamoros,
Panasonic Automotive Systems de Mexico S.A. de C.V. facility in Reynosa,
Stellantis (Fiat-Chrysler) unit Teksid facility in State of Coahuila,
Troy Michigan-based VU Manufacturing's facility in Piedras Negras, has been cited twice, in July, 2022 and again in January 2023. [USTR Details].

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