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WASHINGTON, D.C. – In Case You Missed It: During a U.S. Senate Committee on Finance hearing yesterday, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) asked U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai about her decision to implement the first ever self-initiated labor enforcement case under the Brown-Wyden Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Brown and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) fought for and successfully secured important worker-empowering provision as part of the USMCA, for the first time, empowering workers to bring cases alleging labor violations at the facility level. The new agreement allows workers in Mexico to report when a company is violating their rights, and see action within months if it’s determined that workers’ rights have been violated. It would also apply punitive damages when corporations stop workers from organizing and stop goods from coming into the U.S. if these anti-worker tactics continue.

When corporations are held accountable in paying workers a living wage and treating them fairly, regardless of where those workers are located, companies no longer have an incentive to move jobs abroad – thereby protecting workers on both sides of the border.

Earlier this week, AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Sindicato Nacional Independiente de Trabajadores de Industrias y de Servicios MOVIMIENTO 20/32 (SNITIS), and Public Citizen filed a separate complaint under the Brown-Wyden RRM against Tridonex, an auto parts factory located in Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Together, these two enforcement cases – the one initiated by AFL-CIO and the one self-initiated by USTR – show that the Brown and Wyden provision is working.

During their exchange, Ambassador Tai described what the use of the Brown-Wyden provision in the USMCA means for workers:

More from Brown’s hearing exchange is included below and video is available HERE:

Brown: We now have two Brown-Wyden cases – one that was filed by AFL-CIO earlier this week and the case initiated by USTR. What does full use of the Brown-Wyden mechanism look like to you?

Tai: Let me just distinguish a little bit on the two announcements this week:

The first one was a petition that was a petition filed by AFL-CIO in partnership with several other organizations that was filed with a few other organizations. That is the very first step in the petition process. As constructed, there is a 30 day period during which USTR, working with DOL, will review that petition for whether a follow-up is needed and whether USTR should then request Mexico to review whether a denial of rights has happened. In the second case that has been initiated today, that was self-initiated as you’ve noted, that is USTR initiating the request to Mexico today that will start the next timeline under the mechanism that’s been created.

Brown: Talk to me about how the hotline works – how can workers file complaints? Do you take tips that come in through the hotline seriously?

Tai: In terms of tips and hotlines and taking in information from people with experience of what’s happening on the ground at some of these facilities, we take that information extremely seriously.

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