The U.S. government and a Mexican auto-parts maker reached an agreement to improve working conditions at its plant following a complaint that spurred the first test of enforcement provisions in a new trade agreement.
Tridonex, a factory near the border with Texas in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, will provide severance and back pay to at least 154 workers who were dismissed and will support employees’ rights to determine union representation without coercion, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
The accord comes three months after the AFL-CIO, the U.S.’s largest union, and three other groups filed a complaint against the company, a unit of closely held Cardone Industries Inc. of Philadelphia. It was the first complaint filed under the rapid-response mechanism of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which went into force a year ago and replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement.
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