On Friday, Mexico announced its success in a labor dispute.The dispute revolved around a mine operated by a top copper producer.
The United States had requested an investigation last year. The probe focused on alleged worker rights abuses at a Grupo Mexico mine.
Grupo Mexico, a Mexican mining and transport conglomerate, ranks as the world’s No. 4 copper producer.
Mexico contended that the United States-Mexico-Canada trade accord did not apply.
This was because the alleged labor violations predated the pact’s implementation in 2020.
“This ruling … sets a precedent of not allowing retroactivity in trade agreements,” Mexico’s economy and labor ministries said in a joint statement, adding that such cases should be avoided in labor and other trade disputes.
Operations at the San Martin mine, which produces lead, copper, zinc, and silver, ceased from 2007 to 2018 due to a strike.
Grupo Mexico stated that operations at the mine resumed in 2018 after obtaining worker approval.
However, the union claims that negotiations were conducted with a group of unauthorized employees.
Last year, a U.S. complaint referenced a request from a Mexican miners union led by Napoleon Gomez, an ally of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and currently a senator from the ruling party, along with two prominent U.S. labor organizations.
A union lawyer informed Reuters that they were awaiting confirmation of the panel’s decision before making any comments.
Mexican officials contended that although they discovered Grupo Mexico had “consistently violated workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights for 16 years,” the matter was under the jurisdiction of national authorities.
In a statement on Friday, the company praised the Mexican government for “effectively defending our country’s sovereignty.”