The United States has initiated a review under the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) concerning alleged violations of workers’ rights at Alimentos Grole, S.A. de C.V., a facility in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico that processes pork and chicken products. The U.S. government has suspended liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from this facility while the review is underway.
This action follows a petition submitted on July 29, 2025, by current and former workers at Alimentos Grole who are affiliated with Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria Alimentaria, Mantenimiento Industrial, Similares y Conexos del Estado de Sonora (SITIES), a Mexican labor union. The petition claims that Alimentos Grole threatened and dismissed workers to discourage union activity and established an internal union aligned with company interests.
According to the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC), which is co-chaired by the Secretary of Labor and the United States Trade Representative, “After conducting this review, the ILC determined that there is sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms. As a result, the United States Trade Representative has submitted a request to Mexico that Mexico review whether workers at Alimentos Grole are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Mexico has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days from today to complete the review.”
The RRM was developed during the first Trump Administration as part of efforts to ensure compliance with labor laws among trade partners under USMCA. Its purpose is to prevent companies in Mexico from gaining an unfair advantage over American businesses by violating labor standards.
More information about previous requests made under this mechanism can be found at https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/united-states-mexico-canada-agreement/rapid-response-labor-mechanism/rrm-petitions.
Additional details on how the Department of Labor works to protect American workers against foreign labor abuses are available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/our-work/workers-rights/usmca.
