Mexico NAO Submission 9501 (Sprint)

This submission was filed with the Mexican NAO on February 9,1995, by the Mexican Telephone Workers Union and concerned the closure of a subsidiary of the Sprint Corporation in San Francisco shortly before a union representation election was scheduled to take place. About 240 workers lost their jobs. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) filed an unfair labor practice case with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Mexican NAO reviewed the submission and issued a public report on May 31, 1995, requesting ministerial consultations on the effects of such a plant closure on union organizing efforts. As part of the Ministerial Consultations Agreement between the U.S. Secretary of Labor and the Mexican Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare, the U.S. Department of Labor held a public forum in San Francisco, California to allow interested persons an opportunity to convey their concerns about the effects of sudden plant closings. The Labor Secretaries further instructed the trinational Labor Secretariat to conduct a study on the effects of sudden plant closing on the principle of freedom of association and the right of workers to organize in the three countries. The study was completed and released on June 9, 1997. On December 27, 1996, the NLRB ordered Sprint to reinstate the dismissed workers and awarded them back pay. The Sprint Corp. appealed this decision to the Federal Courts. On November 25, 1997, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed the NLRB and ruled that Sprint closed the facility for legitimate financial reasons.

• Report of Review
• Original Submission