FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 8, 2024
CONTACT: Jimmy Wyderko, jwyderko@economicliberties.us
PRESS RELEASE
Rethink Trade Commends U.S. Government Decision to Launch USMCA RRM Labor Rights Enforcement Case Against VDO, Mexican Subsidiary of a Michigan-based Firm Producing Doors and Blinds Sold Throughout the U.S.
USTR Asks Mexico to Probe Labor Rights Violations Against Matomoros Workers that Elected Independent Union SNITIS After a Petition From SNITIS, United Steelworkers and Rethink Trade
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rethink Trade welcomes the launch of a labor rights enforcement action against the Matamoros, Mexico glass manufacturer Vidrio Decorativo Occidental, S.A. de C.V. (VDO) by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Department of Labor using the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s (USMCA) labor rights Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM). This action comes in response to a petition denouncing the systematic violation of VDO workers right to organize and bargain collectively filed on October 10, 2024 by the Sindicato Nacional Independiente de Trabajadores de Industrias y de Servicios Movimiento 20/32 (SNITIS), United Steelworkers and Rethink Trade.
“This case illustrates the arsenal that bad corporate actors deploy to deny Mexican workers’ their labor rights from retaliating against protected union activity at the workplace to undermining workers’ right to strike to filing bogus criminal complaints against workers and their defenders,” said Daniel Rangel, an advocate with Rethink Trade who petitioned for a case to be initiated. “As corporations continue violating USMCA-guaranteed labor rights in Mexico, we hope this action taken by the U.S. government forces VDO to stop its union-busting activities and reengage in good faith contract negotiations with its workers’ legitimate representative, independent Mexican union SNITIS.”
The USMCA RRM petition that urged action by USTR and the Department of Labor documented how VDO, a subsidiary of Michigan-based ODL Inc., has retaliated against SNITIS members due to their union activism; interfered with workers’ right to strike; and sought to replace SNITIS with a company union under its control. ODL’s doorframes, doors with insulated glass, and window blinds made at the facility are sold across the United States and in other international markets through well-known retailers.
Rethink Trade is a program of the American Economic Liberties Project.
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