GM workers in Mexico defeat union in first test of US trade deal

Mexico City

WORKERS at a General Motors pickup plant in the central Mexican city of Silao have voted to scrap their collective contract, opening the door for them to oust one of Mexico's largest labour organisations as their union in a historic move.

The vote marked the first test of labour rules under a new trade deal that replaced the 1994 North American Free Agreement (Nafta), with a series of safeguards agreed by Mexico and the US to ensure a fair vote.

An initial vote in April was suspended after Mexico's labour ministry found irregularities in the union-led process, prompting the United States to lodge the first complaint under the labour enforcement mechanism of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Of 5,876 GM employees who cast ballots in the Tuesday-Wednesday vote, 3,214 workers rejected the bargaining agreement while 2,623 workers voted to keep it, the labour ministry said in a statement. Many workers who campaigned for the "no" vote said their current union did not fight hard enough for better salaries at the plant that produces thousands of profitable pickup trucks a year.

The ballot count was led by the plant's Miguel Trujillo Lopez union alongside observers from the Labour Ministry, Mexico's National Electoral Institute and the International Labour Organization. REUTERS