Mexico urged to review claims of labour rights violation by Pirelli

Washington – US office of trade representatives has urged Mexico to review claims of workers being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining at the Pirelli Neumaticos facility in Silao de la Victoria, Guanajuato.

The US has suspended liquidation of tariffs on goods from the Pirelli facility, which specialises in the production of passenger car tires, said an announcement by trade representative Katherine Tai 23 Aug.

The request was made under the “rapid response labour mechanism” (RRM) in the US -Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) following a petition by the workers 23 July.

The petition alleged that “Pirelli is not applying the sector-wide agreement (contrato ley) covering the rubber manufacturing industry at the facility."

The tire maker, the petition claimed, is instead applying "a singular collective bargaining agreement with benefits inferior to those in the contrato ley.”

In its review of the petition, the interagency labour committee for monitoring and enforcement (ILC) determined that there was “sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms.”

As a result, the statement added, the US trade representative has submitted a request to Mexico to review the case. 

Mexico has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days from today to complete the review.

Operational since 2012, the Pirelli plant has a capacity to produce 8.5 million passenger car tires annually.