MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Canada's government on Tuesday said it has closed its first labor complaint in Mexico under a 2020 trade deal, after German pipe manufacturer Fraenkische Industrial Pipes agreed to address allegations of worker rights violations at its plant in the central city of Silao.
The case, which Canada began reviewing in March at the request of Mexican union SINTTIA, is the latest under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade pact, which aims to improve workplace conditions in Mexico.
Until now, the U.S. government had filed all 11 USMCA labor complaints in Mexico, scrutinizing mostly foreign companies in the automotive sector including General Motors (NYSE:GM), Goodyear and Stellantis.
SINTTIA had asked Canada to launch a probe into Fraenkische after alleging threats and intimidation by the employer towards workers who supported the group, which was challenging the existing union for the right to represent workers.
Employers and unions in Mexico have long used such tactics in an effort to stamp out worker organizing efforts.
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) said Fraenkische in Mexico has reinstated three dismissed employees with back pay while agreeing to act neutrally in union issues and ensure workers do not face retaliation over their choice of labor representation.
"(Fraenkische) issued a declaration of measures they agreed to take and reaffirmed their commitment to free and fair collective bargaining," ESDC said in a statement.
Fraenkische did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
SINTTIA won a vote in June to represent the plant's workforce, a result confirmed this month by a Mexican labor judge, the statement also said.
Fraenkische is now the second plant where workers are represented by SINTTIA, an independent union that won its first collective contract in a historic vote last year at General Motors in Silao.