The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said Nov. 2 that the United States and Mexico had agreed on workplace measures for Industrias Tecnos, S.A. de C.V., whose small-arms ammunition plant in Cuernavaca is covered by an Oct. 1 memorandum. The announcement came 18 days after the document’s Oct. 15 target for completing the measures, but did not report whether they were in place.
Under the memorandum, Tecnos must circulate and post a statement on its neutrality and guidance on workers’ rights, train staff and establish ways to report labor complaints anonymously and confidentially. The company is also to make the information available through its website and internal communications. Mexico’s Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) must provide evidence of each measure within a week after its specified deadline.
STPS is also to examine Tecnos’ hiring and dismissal rates, including its use of private termination agreements and payouts. The ministry is to train workers on their rights, maintain government complaint channels and monitor compliance. The plan directs STPS to impose sanctions under Mexican law against parties found to have violated labor laws.
The memorandum records that compensation checks for dismissed workers named in a confidential appendix were completed June 26, 2026. The public text does not say how many workers were covered. It also calls for the governments to share information during implementation and consult within 30 days after the memorandum expires to assess whether the measures were adequate; the text gives no expiration date.
The dispute dates to May 23, 2024, when Sindicato Metálico petitioned over alleged labor-rights violations at the plant. Mexico later concluded its review did not establish that workers had been denied their rights, while the United States maintained that the matter was unresolved and requested a panel under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in December 2024. The Nov. 2 announcement gave no update on the panel request.
