IndustriALL condemns dismissal of union representatives at Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mexico

The dismissals of Miriam Alejandra Alducin Sánchez, José Julián Martínez Núñez and Arturo Luna Peña have raised serious concerns about respect for freedom of association and protection against anti-union discrimination during workers’ efforts to choose their union representation.

IndustriALL has written to Yokohama’s global leadership expressing concern over reports of procedural irregularities during the representativeness process. These include delays, unequal treatment of trade unions and the dismissals of Liga representatives.

IndustriALL has also written to the Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral (CFCRL), with a copy to Mexico’s Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. The letter calls on the authorities to safeguard the integrity of the representativeness process and ensure that workers are able to exercise their rights free from intimidation, discrimination or retaliation.

The dispute concerns the process through which workers at the new Yokohama tyre plant in Saltillo choose the trade union that will represent them. According to reports received by IndustriALL and its Mexican affiliates, the Liga Sindical Obrera Mexicana successfully obtained the number of worker signatures required under Mexican labour law to request a Constancia de Representatividad.

However, the union has reported a series of irregularities during the process. These include delays in the handling of its application, the company’s failure to post the required official notice, unequal treatment of trade union representatives and the denial of reasonable access for Liga representatives to communicate with workers. Most seriously, three Liga representatives have now been dismissed during the representativeness process.

IndustriALL calls for respect for workers’ rights

The tyre manufacturing sector in Mexico is covered by the national Contrato Ley de la Industria Hulera. This establishes minimum wages and working conditions across the sector. The current representativeness process concerns which trade union will represent workers at the Yokohama facility for collective bargaining purposes.

IndustriALL has called on Yokohama to immediately reinstate the dismissed representatives, ensure strict neutrality throughout the representativeness process, provide equal treatment to all trade unions and fully respect workers’ rights to freedom of association.

The global union has also urged the Mexican labour authorities to ensure that the representativeness process proceeds in accordance with Mexican labour legislation. Workers should be able to exercise their right to choose their representatives freely and without intimidation, discrimination or retaliation.

“Workers must be free to choose their union without fear of discrimination or retaliation. We urge Yokohama to reinstate the dismissed representatives and to ensure that the representativeness process proceeds in a manner that fully respects workers’ rights and Mexico’s labour legislation,”

said IndustriALL General Secretary Atle Høie.

IndustriALL will continue to monitor developments closely in cooperation with its affiliates in Mexico and internationally. The global union will continue to support workers in their efforts to exercise their fundamental trade union rights.