"In Mexico, a second major win for independent unions", 02 March 2022

...Employees at a U.S.-operated border assembly plant in the northern Mexico city of Matamoros have overwhelmingly voted to have an independent union represent them.

The vote tallies at the Tridonex autoparts plant mark the second victory over undemocratic, old-guard unions that had long kept wages at rock-bottom levels in Mexico. The votes, while still scattered and few in number, could eventually stem the outflow of U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico, as it becomes harder for employers to guarantee low wages by signing “protection” contracts with old-guard Mexican unions.

Lawyer and federal congresswoman Susana Prieto, the union’s founder, praised the vote Tuesday, saying it marked the start of “a new era” among unions in Mexico...

Prieto said “this is a new era in free democratic unions, in which they won’t steal from you, they won’t cheat you, where they are accountable for how they spend your union dues, and decisions are made with openness.”

The Labor Department said that of the 1,313 employees who voted at the plant, 1,126 voted for the independent union. The CTM union got only 176 votes. The leader of that union, Jesús Mendoza, claimed there were irregularities and vowed to appeal the vote.

Cardone, the U.S. company that operates the Tridonex plant, said in a statement it “is committed to supporting employees’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining”...

...[T]he Tridonex plant...had been the subject of labor complaints under the U.S.-Mexico Canada free trade agreement. The USMCA, as the pact is known, contains safeguards requiring Mexico to freely allow workers to choose which unions represent them...