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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -An upstart union supported by international activists won a sweeping victory on Thursday to represent General Motors (NYSE:GM) workers in the central Mexican city of Silao, opening the door to bigger raises that employees long felt were out of reach.
The union, SINTTIA, won with 78% of the vote, beating three rivals including Mexico’s biggest labor organization that had held the contract at the automaker for 25 years.
The vote by several thousand workers https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/union-battle-unfolds-gm-mexico-ahead-workers-vote-2022-01-31 was required under a Mexican labor reform that underpins a trade agreement with the United States and Canada, and was closely watched by the U.S. government.
Worker Jesus Barroso said he chose SINTTIA to push out the past union, which he said did little to help its members.
“We’re fed up. Being fed up is what’s making us take this decision,” said Barroso, adding he takes home 480 pesos ($23.27) a day after 11 years at the plant.
“I think we have the right to give our families, our kids, a better quality of life.”
The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor organization, celebrated the vote as a win for workers across the auto sector.
“Workers will advocate for higher wages and improved health and safety standards … helping to set new standards in the automobile industry,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement.
“This vote represents a rejection of the past.”
GM said it would work with SINTTIA to begin a contract negotiation and thanked employees for voting.
“General Motors recognizes and appreciates the active participation of employees,” the company said in a statement.
SINTTIA is hoping to use some of Mexico’s few independent auto unions, such as the group that represents Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) workers in the central state of Puebla, as models to reach better wages and working conditions.
Most of the plant’s more than 6,000 workers cast ballots, lining up in different areas of the plant Tuesday and Wednesday under the gaze of more than 100 independent observers.
Two SINTTIA leaders received personal threats in the days before the vote, setting supporters on edge, the group said. Observers from Mexico’s national electoral institute (INE) in Silao on Wednesday said the voting was proceeding smoothly.
Many workers hoped to push out the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) after voting last year to dissolve their contract https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/gm-workers-mexico-vote-scrap-union-contract-labor-ministry-2021-08-19 with the group in a vote monitored by U.S. officials https://www.reuters.com/business/us-trade-office-says-gm-mexico-labor-case-concluded-tariff-threat-lifted-2021-09-22 under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal.
CTM had held the Silao contract since the plant opened in 1995 and is aligned with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that ruled Mexico for decades.
It won less than 5% in this week’s union election.
A separate group that critics say has ties to CTM, known as La Coalicion, or The Coalition, took 17.3% of the vote.
($1 = 20.6235 Mexican pesos)
