USW calls for fair union vote at Yokohama Mexico plant

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – The United Steelworkers (USW) has called on Yokohama Tire and Mexican authorities to ensure a “free and fair” union election at the tire maker’s Saltillo plant on 24 Sept.

The vote will determine the administration of the ‘collective agreement for the rubber industry,’ with the independent Mexican workers union league challenging the CTM-affiliated Miguel Trujillo Lopez union*.

On 28 Aug, the league filed a complaint with the US Department of Labor under the USMCA ‘rapid response labour mechanism,’ alleging “threats and dismissals” of supporters and manipulation of the voter list.

USW international president Roxanne Brown said the union was “alarmed by recent reports of threats and violence,” at the plant.

This, she said, included an incident 8 Sept when league representatives conducting informational meetings at the facility “were harassed and threatened by a large group of individuals who arrived at the plant in three buses.”

The USW urged Yokohama and the Mexican government to “act immediately to ensure a fair and peaceful election process.”

Failure to protect workers exercising their rights, it warned, could “encourage further violence and undermine freedom of association.”

*Miguel Trujillo Lopez union affiliated to Confederation of Workers of Mexico