A big labor dispute in Mexico is getting worse because of actions taken by the White House. This could be very bad for both the workers and the business.
The Rapid Response Labor Mechanism will be used by the US Trade Representative to take on the case. The government can step in and fix factories that aren’t following freedom of association and collective bargaining rules in the United States thanks to this program.
Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative, said, “This announcement supports the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of making the playing field more level so workers feel more empowered and using all available enforcement tools to protect workers’ rights.”
But Grupo Mexico, the owner of the mine, the Mexican government, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have all spoken out against it. A lot of people are saying that the U.S. doesn’t have the power to get involved.
A group of Mexican miners called Los Mineros went on strike many years ago. After the mine got a good business deal a few years later, the workers came back. This didn’t change how the mine worked until the USTR asked the Mexican government to check to see if workers’ rights to free association and collective bargaining were being violated.
The mine is being defended by Hogan Lovells. Jonathan Stoel, a partner at the firm, said, “STR should not have brought this RRLM case because it is not within the firm’s jurisdiction and the mine has not been denied rights.”
The San Martin mine has said many times that the U.S. doesn’t have authority there because the goods aren’t sent to the U.S. and the labor dispute started before the trade deal.
The chamber brief said, “The U.S. government’s pursuit of this case violates a central principle upon which the U.S. legal system was built.” The principle is that laws do not have a retroactive effect unless lawmakers make it clear otherwise.
