United States Announces Successful Resolution of Rapid Response Labor Mechanism Matter at Alimentos Grole Facility

WASHINGTON – The United States today announced the successful resolution of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) facility-specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) matter regarding the Alimentos Grole, S.A. de C.V. (Alimentos Grole or the company) facility in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, where workers alleged they were previously denied their freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. The United States and Mexico agreed on a course of remediation to address labor rights violations occurring at the facility, including the formation of a company-aligned internal labor committee and retaliatory dismissals of workers. That plan has now been implemented, and the denial of rights concerns raised in our request for review have been remediated. As a result, the United States Trade Representative has directed the Secretary of the Treasury to resume liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from the facility. Actions taken by the facility to address the matter include: Reinstating nine unlawfully dismissed workers with full backpay and benefits and paying full severance to two workers, based on their respective preferences; Disbanding the company-align...