More than 5,000 workers at a General Motors plant voted to let a new union represent them, replacing the country’s largest labor federation, which had represented workers at the plant since its opening in 1995.
Most union contracts have been reached through deals with employers without workers’ approval, and many union leaders have gotten rich on union dues.
The United States then used a labor enforcement tool within the new trade agreement — known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — to ask Mexico to investigate whether workers’ rights had been violated. The vote this week pitted Morales’ union against three others, two of which experts said are tied to the Confederation of Mexican Workers. The confederation did not respond to requests for comment.
Now that her union has won, Morales said she wants to negotiate for higher wages, pointing out that the minimum salary at the plant is less than $9 a day. “We have left our youth and everything there, and sometimes can’t attend to our family because we need to work,” she said. “Let them respect our vote and our voice.”