Supreme Court to Review Which Union Rightfully Represents Workers at Camino Rojo Mine

ByMexico Solidarity

This article by Jared Laureles and Jessica Xantomila appeared in the August 6, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

[Editor’s Note: Mexico Solidarity readers of both the bulletin and website will be familiar with the ongoing saga of the lucrative Camino Rojo mine, operated by Canadian corporation Orla Mining, with its history of union-busting and environmental degradation. One of the union leaders, Jaime Pulido León, remains in hiding.]

Mexico City. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) admitted the appeal filed by the National Miners’ Union, headed by federal representative Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, to review the process of obtaining ownership of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) at the Camino Rojo Mining Company in Mazapil, Zacatecas.

Nahir Velasco, the union’s legal coordinator, stated that with this decision, the country’s highest court will examine violations against workers in Section 335 of the union, committed by the Canadian company Orla Mining, which “has pressured” them to join an employer “protection” union affiliated with the National Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FNSI).

“The Court will study and analyze the ownership procedure, which involved an abuse of authority and power by some bodies of the judiciary,” he said.

He emphasized that the National Mining Union currently represents the workers at the gold and silver mine, but Orla Mining refuses to recognize it, even though the CCT’s ownership is accredited by the Federal Center for Labor Conciliation and Registration.

The lawyer denounced “false information” disseminated by the FNSI, regarding the union’s ownership of the CCT.

“This appeal is deemed to have been filed,” states the resolution published in the SCJN courtrooms, the file of which was forwarded to Justice Yasmín Esquivel. [Ed’s note: Esquivel was elected during Mexico’s recent judicial election, and will continue to sit as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation after September 1st]

It’s worth noting that a panel is underway in this case under the USMCA’s Rapid Labor Response Mechanism, due to the Canadian company’s violation of the miners’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining under Section 335.

Last December, then-U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the decision due to the failure to reach an agreement on a remediation plan with the Mexican government, which issued a report “with a limited conclusion.”