Labor Department: Alimentos Grole Case in Mexico Resolved, Nine Dismissed Workers Reinstated With Back Pay
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs announced on November 6 that the United States has successfully resolved the facility-specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) matter under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) concerning the Alimentos Grole facility in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, where workers alleged they had been denied their freedom of association and collective bargaining rights.
The Department said a course of remediation agreed by the United States and Mexico has now been implemented, and the denial-of-rights concerns raised in the U.S. request for review have been remediated. As a result, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has directed the Secretary of the Treasury to resume liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from the facility. The Bureau of International Labor Affairs, USTR, and the Mexican government facilitated the resolution with the company.
Actions taken by the facility include reinstating nine unlawfully dismissed workers with full back pay and benefits and paying full severance to two workers, based on their respective preferences; disbanding the company-aligned internal labor committee and committing not to use or support any such committee in the future; developing a facility access protocol allowing the SITIES food-industry union of Sonora to exercise its rights; restructuring human resources and labor relations management and disciplining staff who violated workers' rights; training all personnel on its neutrality statement and freedom-of-association guidelines, including a zero-tolerance policy; informing workers of the denial of rights through meetings and posted notices; and installing an anonymous, confidential complaint mechanism.
The Government of Mexico will monitor the facility's compliance with the remediation course and Mexican labor law, conduct in-person rights training for workers and separate training for supervisors and human resources personnel, and maintain an anonymous reporting email address, platform, and telephone line, investigating allegations in a timely manner.
The case began on July 29, 2025, when a group of current and former Alimentos Grole workers affiliated with SITIES petitioned the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement, alleging the company threatened and dismissed workers to discourage union activity and formed a company-aligned internal union. The committee found sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights; the United States asked Mexico to review the matter on August 28, 2025, and Mexico concluded on October 10, 2025, that a denial of rights had occurred. The two governments then agreed on the remediation course, which the United States monitored. The Labor Department said the RRM, developed under the first Trump administration, is a trade tool designed to level the playing field for American workers and businesses by addressing weak labor law enforcement in Mexican workplaces that compete in trade with the United States. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor)
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
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Photo: 图：美国劳工部总部大楼。美国劳工部官方照片（公共领域，联邦固定图库）。 / Photo: U.S. Department of Labor headquarters. U.S. Department of Labor photo, public domain (federal fixed asset pack).
