MEXICO CITY — The United States said Tuesday it has filed a labor complaint after Mexico refused to act on alleged union-busting by a Mexican company. The U.S. Trade Representatives Office said it has filed a request for a dispute settlement panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, known as the USMCA. The trade pact established rapid-resolution mechanisms to guarantee unions the right to organize in Mexico.
The U.S. government has said it hopes the labor complaints will one day allow Mexican wages to rise closer to those in the United States, stemming the outflow of manufacturing jobs. There is a long way to go to reach that goal. For example, at one auto plant in northern Mexico, a newly elected union got the minimum wage increased to about $14 a day, but that is still less than what a U.S. autoworker earns in an hour.