U.S. Calls on Mexico to Investigate Workers’ Rights Violations at Compañía Hulera Tornel, S.A. de C.V.

For the first occasion in 2025, and the thirty-second instance overall, the United States has requested Mexico’s assessment under the USMCA’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism.

 
WASHINGTON – Today, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai declared that the United States has urged Mexico to evaluate whether the workers at Compañía Hulera Tornel, S.A. de C.V., (Tornel), situated in Mexico City and Estado de Mexico, Mexico, are experiencing a denial of their right to freely associate and engage in collective bargaining. The United States has halted the liquidation of tariffs on products from the Tornel establishment, which focuses on transforming rubber into tires. This request, prompted by a petition, signifies the thirty-second time the United States has officially initiated the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
 
“This represents the third Rapid Response Mechanism case concerning Mexico’s sector-wide agreement for the rubber industry, serving as a significant reminder of the increasing awareness among workers regarding their entitlements and what this mechanism can accomplish for them when those rights are disregarded,” stated Ambassador Katherine Tai. “The Biden-Harris Administration remains firmly committed to collaborating with the Government of Mexico to ensure that workers at this facility – and throughout the sector – receive fair and respectful treatment.”
 
“Every worker in the Mexican rubber industry deserves the complete advantages negotiated in the sector-wide agreement. Any organization attempting to evade providing these benefits is contravening Mexican labor regulations and the stipulations of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” commented Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee. “This is the third RRM case within the rubber sector, and we are eager to maintain our partnership with the Mexican government to guarantee these workers are granted their entitlements.”
 
Background
 
The United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Labor jointly lead the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC). On December 9, 2024, the ILC received an RRM petition from the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Compañía Hulera Tornel, S.A. de C.V., Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, de la República Mexicana, an independent Mexican union.  The petition asserts that Tornel is not implementing the sector-wide agreement (the “contrato ley”) applicable to the rubber manufacturing industry at the facility and is instead utilizing a singular collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) offering benefits that are lesser than those provided in the contrato ley. The ILC reviews RRM petitions received, along with the supporting information, within a span of 30 days.
 
After finishing this evaluation, the ILC concluded there exists adequate, credible proof of a denial of rights that facilitates the good faith utilization of enforcement mechanisms. Consequently, the United States Trade Representative has filed a request with the Mexican authorities for a review determining whether Tornel’s workers are being deprived of the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining due to Tornel’s failure to adhere to the standards set forth in the contrato ley. Mexico is allotted 10 days to consent to conducting a review and, if they agree, has an additional 45 days from today to finalize the review.
 
A version of the request for review can be accessed here.
 
A copy of the correspondence to the Secretary of the Treasury can be found here.
 
Details regarding prior requests can be located here.
 

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