GM workers in Mexico vote for independent union in historic labor vote According to Reuters

By Daina Beth Solomon

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – An independent labor union backed by international activists has won a sweeping victory to represent workers at the General Motors (NYSE:) pickup plant in Silao City, Mexico’s federal labor center said on Thursday.

The union, SINTTIA, beat three opponents by a margin, including Mexico’s largest labor organization, which held the contract for 25 years.

Voting of thousands of workers https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/union-battle-unfolds-gm-mexico-ahead-workers-vote-2022-01-31 is required in the vote Mexican labor reform that underpins a trade agreement with the United States and Canada, and is closely watched by the U.S. government.

The federal labor center said SINTTIA won with 4,192 votes out of 5,389 valid ballots, in an election with nearly 90 percent turnout.

Many workers hope to scrap the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) after voting last year to dissolve their contracts https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/gm-workers- mexico-vote-scrap-union-contract-labor-Department-2021-08-19 with the group in a vote overseen by US officials https://www.reuters.com/business/us- trade-office-says-gm-mexico-labor-case-concluded-threats-removal-2021-09-22 under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

CTM has held the Silao contract since the factory opened in 1995 and is affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that has ruled Mexico for decades.

It won 247 votes in this week’s union election.

A separate group that critics say has ties to the CTM, called La Coalicion, or The Coalition, took second place with 932 votes.

SINTTIA, an emerging union backed by US and Canadian labor groups, has been campaigning for months to rally supporters at the 6,300-employee plant, and has pledged to promote high wages. than in a country where wages have stagnated for years.