In Mexico autos town, labor rights falter despite U.S. trade deal
After successfully staging a wildcat strike for higher wages in 2019, many workers at the Tridonex auto-parts plant in the Mexican city of Matamoros, across the border from Texas, set their sights higher: replacing the union that they say failed to fight for them.
Six workers at the factory, which refits second-hand car parts for sale in the United States and Canada, told Reuters they felt let down that their union, SITPME, did not back their demands for better pay. About 400 Tridonex workers protested outside a Matamoros labor court last year to be allowed to switch unions.
When the first protests broke out in 2019, many of the plant’s roughly 4,000 workers earned just above the then-minimum wage of 176.72 pesos ($8.82) a day.
The Tridonex workers and thousands more at other Matamoros factories walked off the job demanding a 20% raise and 32,000-peso bonus, many without union backing. In nearly all cases, the companies conceded.
Read more: https://philly.metro.us/in-mexico-autos-town-labor-rights-falter-despite-u-s-trade-deal/
