The Office of the United States Trade Representative on Friday invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to seek a review in Mexico of alleged denials of workers’ rights at a facility run by Industrias FG, S.A. de C.V., the agency said.

The step follows a petition that alleged the facility in Morelos, Mexico, violated workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The United States also suspended liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from the facility, which makes polyurethane hydraulic seals used in machinery that includes pistons, according to the agency.

The Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement, co-chaired by the United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Labor, received the petition on Oct. 13 from a Mexican labor union, Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores de Industrias y Servicios “Ricardo Flores Magón.” The petition alleges the facility coerced workers to support a union of the company’s choice, refused to bargain with the authorized union, discriminated against workers for union activity including through retaliatory dismissals, and otherwise interfered with union activities through interrogations, harassment, threats and misinformation.

After reviewing the petition and related information, the committee determined there is sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights to enable a good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms under the trade pact, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said. As a result, the United States Trade Representative requested under Annex 31-A of the agreement for Mexico to examine whether workers at the Facility are being denied freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, and instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to halt liquidation of any unliquidated entries of the facility’s goods.

Mexico has 10 days to decide whether to carry out a review and, if it does, 45 days from Friday to complete it, the agency said. The announcement did not state how many shipments or their value are affected by the suspension.

Copies of the request for review and the letter to the Secretary of the Treasury were referenced by the agency. Information about previous requests under the mechanism was also noted by the agency.