WASHINGTON — The Office of the United States Trade Representative has invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to review whether workers at Modern Metal Alloys, S.A. de C.V. (MMA), located in Querétaro, Mexico, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The United States has suspended liquidation of tariffs on goods from the MMA facility, which manufactures aluminum for the production of auto parts.
Background
The United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Labor co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC). On March 17, 2025, the ILC received an RRM petition from the Secretary General of the Sindicato Industrial de Trabajadores de la Transformación, Construcción, Automotriz, Agropecuaria, Plásticos y de la Industria en General, del Comercio y Servicios, Similares, Anexos y Conexos del Estado de Querétaro, “Angel Castillo Resendiz” (Transformación Sindical), a Mexican labor union. The petition alleges that MMA has violated workers’ rights by failing to recognize the legitimacy of Transformación Sindical, which holds the certificate of representation; refusing to sign a collective bargaining agreement; denying Transformación Sindical access to the facility; harassing and engaging in reprisals against workers due to their union activity, including through dismissal; and promoting and pressuring workers to affiliate with a company-aligned union. The ILC reviews RRM petitions that it receives, and the accompanying information, within 30 days.
After conducting this review, the ILC determined that there is sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms. As a result, the United States Trade Representative has submitted a request to Mexico that Mexico review whether workers at MMA are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Mexico has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days from today to complete the review.
A copy of the request for review can be found here.
A copy of the letter to the Secretary of the Treasury can be found here.
Information about previous requests can be found here.
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