WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States and Mexico announced a resolution to a dispute at a Panasonic plant in Mexico, with the company saying it would renounce an agreement with a union that lacked lawful bargaining authority, the U.S. Trade Representative said on Thursday.
The agreement involved the Panasonic Automotive Systems facility in Reynosa, Mexico, “where workers were previously denied their freedom of association and collective bargaining rights,” the USTR said in a statement.
In addition to scrapping a bargaining agreement with a union that lacked authority, the Panasonic plant agreed to remove the union, reimburse workers for union dues deducted from paychecks, recognize an independent union, SNITIS, and reimburse workers for wages unpaid as a result of a strike at the facility, the USTR said.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked the Mexican government to review the matter under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism.
“Today’s announcement is yet another example of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to defending the rights of workers, including those that live beyond our borders,” Tai said in the statement.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Lawder; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)
