By Daina Solomon

MEXICO CITY (Reuters] – On Friday, the United Auto Workers (UAW), union pressed General Motors and Mexican officials for more efforts to guarantee workers at a pick up truck plant in central Mexico have the right to vote free next month.

Around 7,000 Silao workers will be able to vote for one of four unions that conform with a Mexican labor reform. This is a crucial tenet in a new deal between the United States of America and Canada.

The vote on last year’s collective contract was marred in the beginning by ballot destruction, which led the U.S. government demand that more scrutiny be done under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Workers eventually voted in favor of dissolving the contract. This opened up the possibility to form a new union.

Ray Curry, President of UAW and representing U.S. GM Workers, suggested that labor inspectors be immediately dispatched to Silao so the factory is not subject to intimidation or coercion. This was in advance of the February 1 and 2 vote.

Over the years, Mexican workers have faced intimidation as a result of union voting and attempts to organize.

Curry’s comments echo concerns expressed in the past by Unifor, Canadian Union Unifor and the U.S. labor federation AFL-CIO.

The AFL-CIO stated this week, “We are concerned about the lack of protection workers’ rights within the GM plant.”

GM didn’t immediately reply to a request of comment.

In September, U.S. officials closed the GM petition about the vote of last year. However, the U.S. Department of Labor (and the U.S. trade representative) are still monitoring the matter, according to a U.S. labor committee report.