USTR Calls out Mexican Call Center Operator

The United States has asked Mexico to review whether workers at the Atento Servicios, S.A. de C.V. facilities in the city of Pachuca, state of Hidalgo, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Founded in 1999 to consolidate Telefónica S.A.’s CRM services into a single group, Atento operates 95 call centers in 17 countries in Latin America, Spain and Puerto Rico.  The company provides spanish-speaking call center services to US consumers.

Both Atento locations in Pachuca offer call center services to BBVA Mexico, a subsidiary of the Spanish bank BBVA Group.  The request marks the nineteenth time the United States has formally invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the first time the United States has done so in the telecommunications sector.

Thre Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC) received an RRM petition December 18, from the Sindicato de Telefonistas de la República Mexicana (STRM).  The petition alleged that Atento interfered in union activities and unjustly dismissed workers for supporting STRM and as a retaliatory measure for engaging in organizing efforts.

This request for review also encompasses all actions taken by the company to coerce workers to join the Sindicato Nacional Presidente Benito Juárez de la Industria de la Comunicación de la República Mexicana (Benito Juarez union), including encouraging workers to affiliate with the Benito Juarez union through reprisals and threats of reprisals, providing the Benito Juarez union access to the facility, and offering benefits to workers if they support the Benito Juarez union.

A copy of the request for review can be found here.

Information about previous requests can be found here.