Mexico extends deadline for re-do of disputed GM contract vote By Reuters

By Daina Beth Solomon

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican authorities on Monday extended the deadline for the union at a General Motors Co (NYSE:) plant to re-do a disputed contract vote that has drawn U.S. scrutiny, warning that the plant’s collective contract would be terminated if the date is missed.

The union at the plant in the central city of Silao must hold the vote before Aug. 20, the labor ministry said in a statement.

The original union-led vote in April was scrapped after officials flagged “serious irregularities” in the process.

The findings prompted the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to make the first-ever request for a review of potential labor violations under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a trade pact that replaced NAFTA.

Mexico’s labor ministry on May 11 had ordered the GM union to hold a new vote within 30 days.

After the deadline passed, the U.S. labor federation AFL-CIO said it was “deeply concerned” over the delays, and U.S. lawmakers urged GM to ensure it would comply with USMCA requirements.

The deadline was pushed back at the union’s request to ensure there would be no logistical “impediments” for the majority of workers to participate, the labor ministry said.

GM workers in Silao are represented by the Miguel Trujillo Lopez union, which is affiliated with the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), one of Mexico’s largest and oldest labor organizations.

Tereso Medina, head of the Miguel Trujillo Lopez union, said the request to push back the date stemmed from “an issue of responsibility,” as General Motors grapples with a global semiconductor chips shortage that has forced some pauses in production.

He added his union will not miss the Aug. 20 deadline for the next vote, in which workers will decide whether to keep their current collective contract.

Such ratification votes are required under Mexico’s 2019 labor reform, which underpins the USMCA’s labor provisions, to ensure workers are not bound to contracts that were signed behind their backs.

GM and the office of the USTR did not immediately respond to requests for comment.