Senators Brown, Wyden Release Joint Statement Following Vote for Independent Union by General Motors Workers in Silao, Mexico

Statement

Today, U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) released a joint statement following the news that workers in the Silao, Mexico General Motors plant have voted to be represented by the independent labor union Sindicato Independiente Nacional de Trabajadores Trabajadoras de la Industria Automotriz (SINTTIA). When corporations are held accountable for treating workers fairly, regardless of where those workers are located, companies no longer have an incentive to move jobs abroad -- thereby protecting workers on both sides of the border.

"This vote for the independent union SINTTIA by General Motors workers in Silao shows that enforcing USMCA through the Brown-Wyden provision is working. For decades, Americans have seen factories shuttered and their jobs shipped overseas because of trade policies that put corporations first and quashed worker rights abroad. We wrote the Brown--Wyden provision to fight the race-to-the-bottom that encourages outsourcing and depresses wages for American workers, by lifting worker rights and standards in Mexico -- and that's what it's doing. To stop the corporate business model that shuts down factories in Ohio and Oregon, we must raise labor standards in every country we trade with. That standard is the floor, not the ceiling, for future trade agreements. This is great news for both Mexican and American workers," said the senators in a joint statement.

The Brown-Wyden Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) represents the first-ever overhaul of labor enforcement standards in a trade agreement since the U.S. started negotiating trade deals. The new agreement allows workers in Mexico to report when a company is violating their rights and seek immediate action if it's determined that workers' rights have been violated. The Brown-Wyden RRM allows for punitive damages when corporations violate labor protections, and authorizes the U.S. to prevent goods from coming into America if companies continue their anti-worker tactics.

Last year, the United States and Mexico announced a course of remediation that seeks to provide the workers of the General Motors facility in Silao, Mexico with the ability to vote on whether to approve and legitimize their collective bargaining agreement in free and democratic conditions. This will also remediate GM's initial denial of the right of free association and collective bargaining to workers at the facility. This first course of remediation is a result of the worker-empowering provisions Sens. Brown and Ron Wyden (D-OR) secured through their Rapid Response Mechanism as part of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and reflects the shared intent of the U.S. and Mexico that trade must benefit workers.

Last year, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai implemented the first ever self-initiated labor enforcement case under the Brown-Wyden RRM in the USMCA. During a Finance Committee hearing, Brown discussed with Ambassador Tai the use of the Brown-Wyden provision in the USMCA and what it means for workers.

Source