Mexico GM plant’s union says deal reached on new contract

The union at a General Motors assembly plant in northern Mexico reached an agreement for a new contract with the company that it says improves conditions for workers, a goal of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact.

The Independent Union of Auto Industry Workers, known by its initials in Spanish as Sinttia, won a vote by workers in February to oust the old-guard, pro-company Confederation of Mexican Workers, the CTM, which long dominated the plant.

Sinttia said in a statement on May 10 that the new contract “improves labor conditions in all ways,” including salary increases above inflation and other benefits. The union did not provide details on the contract. The deal also establishes that the union will have a greater voice on behalf of the workers going forward.

The contract will be subject to a secret ballot vote by the plant’s workers.

The U.S. government filed a labor complaint last year under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact after the old-guard union meddled in a first union vote. Under changes to Mexican labor law required under the USMCA, workers can now in theory vote out the old, pro-company union bosses. That allowed Sinttia to emerge victorious from the February vote.

Pro-company unions held wages down for decades at Mexican plants and drained manufacturing jobs from the U.S.