UAW urges GM, Mexican officials to push for new union vote

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UAW urges GM, Mexican officials to push for new union vote

MEXICO CITY - The United Auto Workers UAW union on Friday pressed General Motors and Mexican officials to step up their efforts to make sure workers at a pick-up truck plant in central Mexico can vote on a new union next month.

The election will allow some 7,000 workers in the plant in the city of Silao to choose among four new unions in line with the Mexican labor reform aimed at ensuring freedom of association, a key tenet of a new trade deal with the United States and Canada.

A vote last year on the collective contract was initially marred by irregularities like destroyed ballots, prompting the U.S. government to demand increased scrutiny in a formal complaint under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement USMCA Workers to dissolve the contract, opening the door to elect a new union.

UAW President Ray Curry, whose group represents U.S. GM workers, said that labor inspectors should be sent immediately to Silao to make sure the plant is free from coercion and intimidation ahead of the vote on February 1 and 2.

For decades, workers at companies across Mexico have been subject to intimidation due to their union votes and efforts to organize.

Curry said that the U.S. labor federation AFL-CIO, Canadian union Unifor and Italian metalworkers union FIOM echoed similar concerns in recent days.

The AFL-CIO said this week that workers' rights were not protected in the plant because of the lack of protection for workers' rights.

GM didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.

A report from a U.S. labor committee this week shows that the U.S. officials closed the GM complaint about last year's election, but the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Trade Representative are still monitoring the issue, according to a report from a U.S. government labor committee.