MEXICO’S pro-company “yellow” trade unions and widely unpopular “protection contracts” received another blow this week after workers at a Panasonic auto parts plant voted to affiliate with the independent union Snitis.

The union won 75 per cent of the votes in a two-day ballot in which 2,150 people were eligible to vote, against Siamarm, part of the discredited Confederation of Mexican Workers.

This follows recent decisions by workers to vote for Snitis at the General Motors plant in the central state of Guanajuato and at auto parts plant Tridonex in Tamaulipas.