USTR Seeks Second USMCA Labor Rapid Response Dispute Panel

The U.S. on April 16 requested the establishment of a USMCA dispute settlement panel to consider its rapid response labor complaint against a Mexican call center, marking only the second time the U.S. has requested that a panel be formed, according to an April 16 news release from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

USTR had in January filed a rapid response request with Mexico that said Atento Services in Pachuca was denying its workers the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining (see 2401220007). Mexico launched an investigation in response that found labor violations, but also said that they had been remediated. The U.S. disagreed.

In the rapid response “cases to date, the United States and Mexico have been able to cooperate to successfully address labor rights violations at the Mexican facilities in question,” the USTR news release said. “We were not able to do so in this matter, however, and the United States therefore has determined that it is appropriate to request a panel to verify the facility’s compliance with Mexican labor laws.”

The U.S. had originally alleged Atento Services took steps to favor one labor union over another, including limiting labor union access, offering a bonus if its favored labor union won the election, and threatening and firing workers in retaliation for union organizing activity, USTR said.

While Mexico said the denial of rights “has been fully remediated by Atento,” USTR in its request for panel review said that some of the fired workers “may not have received the full remediation owed to them under Mexican law,” and that Mexico’s finding that the labor violations had been remediated “did not address” Atento’s “illegal activity on the vote for the Certificate of Representation.”