Contact: Ben Davis, (412) 562-2501, bdavis@usw.org
The United Steelworkers (USW) today joined the AFL-CIO and the Independent Union of Free and Democratic Workers of Saint Gobain Mexico to file a petition with the U.S. Department of Labor alleging multiple violations of worker’s rights at the company’s glass plant in Cuautla, Mexico.
Workers at the plant will vote tomorrow and Thursday to choose representation by either the independent union or the Confederation of Workers and Campesinos (CTC), which held the contract until workers voted it down on July 5 and 6.
The petition, filed under the Rapid Response Mechanism of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), alleges that the company has allowed the CTC to intimidate and threaten workers to influence their votes.
“We hope the Mexican authorities will be vigilant in this week’s election and will investigate the Saint Gobain workers’ reports of intimidation in the workplace,” said USW International Affairs Director Ben Davis.
The Rapid Response Mechanism was one of several worker-friendly reforms that Democrats in Congress demanded when the failed NAFTA agreement was scrapped in 2018 and ultimately replaced with the USMCA. The new trade agreement took effect in 2020.
The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.