Stephanie Ferguson Melhorn
Senior Director, Workforce & International Labor Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Published
July 19, 2021
An earlier blog posted on July 8, 2021 described a USMCA complaint which alleged a violation of rights occurred at a GM facility in Sialo, Mexico. On that same day, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the U.S. and Mexico reached a remediation agreement which can be read in full here.
The remediation agreement requires Mexico to take the following steps:
- Ensure a new vote is held at the GM Silao facility by August 20, 2021
- Ensure federal inspectors are present at the facility starting this week
- Allow impartial international observers to be at the facility before and during the new vote
- Distribute information on workers’ rights
- Investigate and sanction the parties responsible for the denial of rights that occurred as it relates to the original complaint
- Create and monitor an employee hotline for the purpose of receiving and responding to complaints about the voting process
The nations agreed to September 20, 2021 as the remediation’s end date. At that point, the nations must either agree that the complaint has been remediated or dispute the remediation and continue through the process which may include additional remedies or the formation of a panel.
About the authors
Stephanie Ferguson Melhorn
Stephanie Ferguson Melhorn is the Senior Director of Workforce & International Labor Policy. Her work on the labor shortage has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Associated Press.
