The United States on Monday announced the successful resolution of the USMCA facility-specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism matter at Alimentos Grole, a food facility in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, saying the remediation plan agreed with Mexico has been implemented and the denial of workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights has been remedied. The US Trade Representative has directed the Secretary of the Treasury to resume liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from the facility.
Under the remediation, the company reinstated nine unlawfully dismissed workers with full backpay and benefits and paid full severance to two others, disbanded the company-aligned internal labor committee, adopted an access protocol for the SITIES union, restructured its human resources and labor relations management with disciplinary action against staff who violated workers’ rights, and put a neutrality statement, training and an anonymous complaint mechanism in place, while Mexico monitored the facility and ran workers’ rights trainings. The case began with a petition on July 29, 2025 from current and former workers affiliated with SITIES; 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.