MEXICO CITY -- It has been nearly two years since the United States began pressing Mexico over labor rights violations by using rapid dispute resolution methods contained in the U.S.-Mexico Canada free trade agreement. The administration of President Joe Biden has brought six such complaints and brags that, for the first time, someone is challenging Mexico's unions that have kept wages low for decades. But workers and union organizers are mixed on the results, saying it's hard to build a real union movement overnight, and that employers and old union bosses continue to resist change.
The first complaint was filed in May 2021 about attempts by the Confederation of Mexican Workers union to interfere with a vote at the GM plant in Silao, in the north-central state of Guanajuato.
Under the pressure of the U.S. complaint -- which could eventually have led to trade sanctions -- Mexican officials and observers oversaw a squeaky-clean union vote in which the old-guard union was thrown out, and a new, independent union won the right to negotiate.
The new union quickly won an 8.5% wage increase and more bonuses.
"On the economic side, the truth is the change came very quickly, though they were a little slow in giving us the increase," said Manuel Carpio, a GM worker. Carpio credits the reformed Mexican labor laws and the pressure brought to bear under the USMCA complaint.
"I think that had a lot to do with it," Carpio said.
Before, pro-company unions signed contracts behind workers' back, and employed thugs to keep workers from questioning the contracts, or relied on the company to fire dissidents. Carpio, an early union supporter, said that before, it was impossible to organize.
"There was a lot of retaliation, but now we were protected by the law, that protected us a little, they couldn't do as much against us," he said. Before, "if we had tried to do it, heads would have rolled."
Which is not to say the problems are all solved; Carpio said the new union, known by it initials as SINTTIA, has a learning curve, and has been slow to hand out benefits derived from union dues. And autoworkers in Mexico still earn as little as $300 per month, or $12 per day.
The new union got the minimum increased to about $14 per day, but that's still less than a U.S. autoworker earns in an hour. The U.S. government hopes one day wages will equalize with the United States, stemming the outflow of manufacturing jobs, though that's not going to happen for a very long time.
"That is very far away," said Jose Guadalupe Alonso, a representative of the new union, who is still trying to cope with the fact that the old union took everything down to the chairs and computers in union offices, and left the treasury bare.
Alonso has no doubt that the U.S. labor complaints were key to getting the new union at GM.
"What really made the difference here was that the U.S. government forces pressured to get certain things," said Alonso.
But Alonso says similar organizing efforts at other area plants, which have not attracted as much international attention, are still often as hard as ever.
For example, an organizing effort by the same union at a German plant making automotive pipes and tubing met resistance recently. Alonso said that when Mexican labor authorities tried to carry out an inspection at the plant, guards told them they had the wrong address.
"Maybe we will have to submit another complaint to the U.S. government," Alonso said.
Mexico's Labor Department says it is committed to making the country's new labor laws work. The reforms guarantee workers the right to vote by secret ballots, see their contracts and periodically approve union leaders, all of which did not happen before. But Mexico still hasn't built the labor boards, inspectors and outreach that would make it all work.
But the U.S. labor complaints are no magic wand: the best example so far is the VU Manufacturing auto parts plant in the border city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
It is the only place where the United States has had to file not one, but two labor complaints under the USMCA, asking Mexico to ensure that it's laws guaranteeing freedom to organize are being enforced.
The plant, located across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, illustrates some of the uphill battles that organizers face in making union freedom a reality.
The VU facility is largely staffed by women who often work 12-hour shifts assembling visors, armrests and dashboard parts for cars. Their base wage is about $15 per day.
A man works in a shoe maquiladora or factory, in Leon, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 7, 2023. It has been nearly two years since the United States began pressing Mexico over labor rights violations, by using rapid dispute resolution methods (RRM) contained in the U.S.-Mexico Canada free trade agreement. (AP Photo/Mario Armas)
A man works in a shoe maquiladora or factory in Leon, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 7, 2023. t has been nearly two years since the United States began pressing Mexico over labor rights violations, by using rapid dispute resolution methods (RRM) contained in the U.S.-Mexico Canada free trade agreement. (AP Photo/Mario Armas)
A woman works in a shoe maquiladora or factory in Leon, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 7, 2023. t has been nearly two years since the United States began pressing Mexico over labor rights violations, by using rapid dispute resolution methods (RRM) contained in the U.S.-Mexico Canada free trade agreement. (AP Photo/Mario Armas)