UAWD has supported international solidarity since our founding in 2018. Right now, our union siblings in Mexico at SINTTIA, La Liga, and SNITIS—independent, democratic unions organizing in the auto sector in Mexico—need our support.
Last year, Mexican workers at General Motors in Silao, VU Manufacturing (a Michigan-based auto parts company) in Piedras Negras, Tridonex in Matamoros, and others began organizing to oust their corrupt government/company-dominated union in favor of these new, independent, rank-and-file-led unions. UAW issued statements earlier this year giving verbal support to these workers, and the AFL-CIO honored SINTTIA’s General Secretary, Alejandra Morales Reynoso, with a human rights award earlier this year.
UAWD members wrote to the current UAW President asking him to invite these Mexican trade union activists to this Convention…but never heard back. Maybe Ray Curry doesn’t want delegates to hear how these workers got rid of corruption in their union—so we’re bringing their story to you.
These workers need more than just lip service from the UAW. They need our union to act on their petitions for assistance, protest our shared employers’ union-busting tactics, and support their hardship fund. Here’s how you can show solidarity with these workers, and join UAWD for future discussion with our union siblings in Mexico.
- Donate to La Liga’s hardship fund or other support funds.
- Read more about the Mexican workers’ struggle on the UAWD website.
- Write to VU Manufacturing, demanding an end to union-busting tactics.
- Participate in future protest actions outside VU offices in Troy, MI.
- Ask your UAW representatives to act on our petitions for assistance.
- Meet with our worker-leaders—stay tuned for a future UAWD event by signing up for our emails!
Here’s an update from workers at La Liga:
La Liga is part of an international confederation of garment workers unions but is itself newly formed in Mexico, having just received legal recognition last October. Like SINTTIA and SNITIS, it is an independent, democratic union organizing in the auto sector, as well as in garment.
VU Manufacturing, based in Troy, Michigan, manufactures “soft-trim” for car interiors (think the cupholder, the dashboard, the door’s interior upholstery) for a number of UAW-unionized companies on the U.S. side at its factory in Piedras Negras, Mexico. The factory has about 350 employees and produces parts for GM (Colorado), Chrysler (Pacifica), Volkwagen (Tarek) Nissan (Frontier, Altima, Maxima, Rogue, Leaf), Honda (Civic, Acura RDX), Toyota (Lexis 350). Based on our research, we believe the GM Colorado is made at the company’s plant in Shreveport, LA, which we believe is unionized under UAW Local 2166, while the Chrysler Pacifica is made at the company’s Windsor plant, which we also suspect to be union. As a result, there are lots of ties through the supply chain.
Since June, VU management has been actively attempting to impose a powerful company union, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) in the plant after catching wind of our unionization campaign. When the workers protested the CTM’s entry into the plant and began organizing more openly, the company retaliated, suspending several workers and summarily discharging another after he spoke up at the captive audience meeting (guards forced him out of the factory). As mentioned, the campaign has now resulted in a new complaint by the U.S. under the USMCA’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism.
The factory is now likely to undergo a type of union election called a recuento, wherein the CTM and the Liga will compete for a majority vote of the plant’s employees (very much like a raid election). CTM is notorious for using bribes, threats, and extortion to win these kinds of votes on behalf of their company allies. The factory is also using a current slowdown in the auto sector to selectively place union leaders on temporary layoff, hampering our campaign efforts and pressuring workers to seek alternative employment. As a result, we’ll need all of the international help and support we can bring to bear to hold the employer accountable and support the coming campaign.