New Labor Study Explores Impact of Trade Agreements on Mexican Auto Workers
As the United States prepares for the incoming administration, Americans assess the impact of trade policies–like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)–on domestic and international workers. Four years after the USMCA went into effect in July 2020, a new report from Cornell ILR, “Enforcement Of The USMCA Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM): Views From Mexican Auto Sector Workers,” examines the impact of its novel mechanisms on labor power.
When the USMCA was signed in 2018, it included new ways for workers to file complaints when they believe their rights have been violated. This exploratory study interviewed 130 workers across 12 unionized and non-unionized auto facilities to see how workers felt about the USMCA’s mechanisms.
The report found that “trade agreements like the USMCA, enforced under a worker-centered trade policy, can play an important part in deterring labor rights violations and empowering workers to bargain with management,” said report coauthor Desirée LeClercq.
LeClercq, currently an assistant professor at the University of Georgia School of Law, researched and drafted the report while at the ILR School, alongside coauthors Alex Covarrubias-V, director of the Transborder Studies Program at The College of Sonora, and Cirila Quintero Ramirez, professor-researcher at El Colegio de Frontera Norte, Unidad Matamoros.
Funded by Cornell ILR’s Center for Applied Research on Work (CAROW), the study intends to measure the real-world impact of the USMCA trade agreement on workers’ voices and power in the Mexican Auto Industry. Additionally, the study explores the RRM's awareness, effectiveness and outcomes.
Auto sector workers in Mexico have long faced challenging conditions for organizing, bargaining with their employers and negotiating collective bargaining agreements in their favor. These poor workplace protections result in lower production costs than the rest of North America, motivating auto assembly plants and supplier facilities to move to Mexico.
Central to the report’s investigation is the RRM, a trade mechanism within the USMCA that enables workers to file a complaint or grievance with the U.S. government if they feel their facility has denied them the right to freely associate or bargain. In response, the U.S. government may initiate a case against that facility and suspend the settlement of the facility’s U.S. customs duty until the case is resolved.
One of the report’s findings suggests that workers at facilities that have undergone RRM enforcement activities are more aware of their labor rights and procedures than workers at facilities that have not undergone RRM enforcement activities.
Any revisiting of past trade policy or opportunities for future trade policy may benefit from the report’s recommendations, which include aligning the RRM procedures to the report’s more general recommendations: making worker training programs more comprehensive, developing bottom-up technical assistance, granting workers a new opportunity to legitimate their collective bargaining agreements, and offering a longer period to participate in election procedures under RRM remediation plans.
Beyond USMCA-specific recommendations, the report aims to more broadly inform trade partners considering an RRM-type mechanism. “Enforcement Of The USMCA Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM): Views From Mexican Auto Sector Workers” answers vital questions and, if leveraged correctly, could pave the road towards a better, fairer deal for auto workers.
Read the report here, also available in Spanish.