US, Mexico agree on labor rights plan for Mexican Goodyear plant
7:20 pm Wednesday, July 19th, 2023
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The United States and Mexico reached an agreement to remedy violations of workers’ rights at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co plant in the Mexican city of San Luis Potosi, both countries said on Wednesday.
The Mexican government has committed to carry out a number of measures under the agreement, the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office said in a statement.
The measures include having Goodyear distribute and enforce a sector-wide labor contract, award additional wages and benefits to those eligible and give backpay for “Goodyear’s failure to apply” the contract previously, the USTR added.
Goodyear must also inform workers of their labor rights and respect union activity, the USTR said.
Mexico will carry out periodic inspections of the plant, and if warranted, could impose sanctions on people, labor organizations or the company, the USTR said.
The two countries set a deadline of Jan. 19, 2024, to complete remediation proceedings, it added.
Mexico’s labor ministry will continue to carry out a review of companies in the rubber industry and their labor agreements, it said in a separate statement with the economy ministry.
The remediation plan comes after a petition from a Mexican independent union, which found Goodyear was offering employees fewer benefits than an industry-wide agreement required.
(Reporting by Raul Cortes, Valentine Hilaire and Kylie Madry; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Sonali Paul)
