U.S. trade authorities have filed a labor complaint with Mexico over allegations that a Volkswagen assembly plant in Puebla, Mexico, unfairly fired union activists.
The complaint filed by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office Tuesday follows an April 25 petition filed by 10 fired workers who allege Volkswagen Mexico violated the workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights at the plant, the country’s largest and longest-operating auto factory.
“Retaliating against workers for their union activities violates the workers’ basic and fundamental rights that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) protects,” Thea Lee, deputy undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, said in a news release. “We are committed to working with the Mexican government to investigate these matters thoroughly and to ensure that Volkswagen workers’ essential rights are upheld.”
Mexico’s government has 10 days to decide whether to carry out a review and 45 days to investigate the claims and present its findings.
The labor complaint was filed under the USMCA trade pact’s rapid response mechanism, focusing on the denial of specific labor rights. Enforcement efforts can result in additional tariffs or other import restrictions.
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This is the 23rd labor review request under the USMCA’s rapid response mechanism filed by the U.S. since 2020.
The Volkswagen Mexico plant in Puebla employs about 6,100 assembly line workers, 5,000 supervisory employees and thousands of parts-assembly workers.
The facility manufactures about 2,300 vehicles per day, including the Taos, Tiguan, Jetta and Golf models for sale in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and other markets. In 2023, Volkswagen exported more than 300,000 vehicles from Mexico — 67% to the U.S.
Autoworker wages at the Puebla plant ranged between $15 and $48 a day in 2022, according to Reuters. The average U.S. autoworker earned about $28 an hour in 2023, according to BLS data.
Volkswagen Mexico workers are represented by the Independent Union of Volkswagen (SITIAVW). In August 2023, Volkswagen Mexico reached an agreement for an 8.1% salary increase with SITIAVW.
For 2024, SITIAVW is seeking a 21% increase in wages and a 3% bump in benefits for its workers, according to Milenio.