April 18, 2012

Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) has announced plans to close its Interiores factory in Puebla, Mexico, less than one year after signing a collective bargaining agreement with an independent union affiliated with the National Union of Mine and Metalworkers (Los Mineros).

The JCI Interiores workers, who had previously been "represented" by a protection union imposed on them by their employer, had fought long and hard to win the right to be represented by a union of their free choice.

The 400 Interiores workers will lose their jobs when JCI moves production to another Mexican facility, ostensibly for financial and "logistical" reasons. According to Los Mineros, the plant closure is "really an attack on independent and democratic trade unionism."

Although the company's own financial reports indicate that the Puebla factory was profitable, JCI denies that the closure of the factory is intended to get rid of the union. JCI posted record sales and profits in the first quarter of 2012.

Los Mineros has vowed to fight the closure.