Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
Background Articles on the Situation of Maquiladora Workers
[NOTE: Following are two articles that were included in the
Mexicali conference packet. The first article on the Flor de Baja workers
was only in Spanish at the time of the conference. Dan La Botz was kind
enough to translate it for the Mexico Solidarity Network newsletter. The
workers at Flor de Baja were among the maquiladora workers who presented
their testimonies at the Mexicali conference. - A.B.]
MEXICO'S DEPLORABLE RUNAWAY MAQUILADORAS: ANOTHER EXAMPLE: "FLOR
DE BAJA"
By Gema López Limón *
The Mexican maquiladora industry gives employers great advantages in
terms of duties and tariffs, special rate for light and water, tax
exemptions, pre-existing industrial parks, a trained and cheap labor
force, lax enforcement of labor and environmental laws, etc. On the state
website appears this information: "Baja California offers a mature
workforce with skilled and expert hands. We offer professional and
technical human resources required by world class firms."
So it is hardly surprising that multinational company plants in Baja
California reach the highest levels of productivity, the highest marks for
innovation and the highest profits for their organizations. And all of
this from the cost-efficiency relationship that is found in our labor
force. That is to say, the state offers cheap workers on a silver platter,
in addition to which the government guarantees a climate of "labor
peace;" that is, zero independent unions, zero strikes. This is
"almost paradise."
But the companies stay only if they get big profits, and as soon as they
discover a new place that offers them more, they move without giving a
thought to the social and economic costs that their sudden departure
causes. As for the government, what responsibility does it assume?
So, run-away or fly-by-night maquiladoras have a special place in the
abuses and aggravations suffered by maquiladora workers. Called
"swallows" in Spanish, or "golondrinas," the lovely
name hides the tragedy whereby these companies close their doors from one
day to the next, leaving the workers completely destitute. It's not
uncommon that we read in the newspaper that at some company (Assembly of
Mexico, Aromex, etc.) the workers showed up to go to work and they found
the factory had been completely pillaged by its own owners, who had taken
off, leaving the site abandoned, making a joke of their responsibilities
to the workers under the Mexican Federal Labor Law (LFT).
Sometimes the workers succeed in stopping the employer from taking out the
machinery and equipment, and manage to hold on to it and sell it to pay
the severance [to which they are legally entitled]. When a company can't
make a go of it because of problems in the market, having bought too much
raw material, or whatever, the Federal Labor Law establishes a clear
procedure according to which, if the plant closing is approved, it must
indemnify the workers with at least four months wages and 20 days wages
for each year of employment, apart from other benefits they are legally
entitled to.
"Flor de Baja" and the Guacamole of the "the Biggest
Taco in the World"
For example, take the case of "Flor de Baja" company. Do you
remember among the frivolities of the centenary celebration the publicity
about "the biggest taco in the world"? Well those who provided
the guacamole were the women and men workers of this maquiladora, with its
headquarters in Chicago, that exported its product to the United States.
One month after the feat of producing the great taco, on April 15, 2003,
the workers showed up for work, as on any normal day, and found to their
surprise that that was their last day of work because the company was
closing. Using tricks and false promises, and a clearly hostile
psychology, the company locked them up, and without letting them
communicate with the outside world forced them to sign (with many legal
irregularities) agreements in which they gave up their labor rights and
the benefits to which they were entitled. (Management didn't give them any
copies, "because they might use them incorrectly"!) In spite of
this, they have since registered a complaint with the Secretary of Labor
(STPS), thereby beginning a process to execute or fulfill these agreements
that has still not been concluded.
Tricks and traps of Caballero: What about the agreements, ask the
workers?
The spokesperson for this fraud was Luis Alfonso Caballero Camou, who
was the manager of the firm. He's the person who wrote up agreements that
benefited only himself, establishing the severance pay, vacations, year's
end bonus, pay for seniority, and even benefits that shouldn't have gone
to him, such as overtime pay at double and triple time for the amount of
US$677,137.50! The total amount Caballero demanded came to US$763,144.70
(more than 8 million pesos), while to the workers he gave only crumbs.
In his document Caballero explained the real situation of the company, its
economic difficulties and demanded that, if the agreement were not
fulfilled, the firm would be obliged to pay lost wages of US$260 a day. On
the other hand, he handled the workers' contract as if it were the
termination of the labor relationship by mutual agreement, with
insignificant pay, without considering the severance, benefits, or
seniority bonus due according to the Federal Labor Law. And still the
manager demanded silence: "Don't tell anybody anything."
In June 2003 the workers on their own initiative went to the
"Citizen's Wednesday" [a public hearing where the authorities
listen to the plight of the people and make promises to address
them--translator's note] to seek help with their problem. There they were
told their matter should be taken to the Labor Department, which they did.
There I listened to the answer of the Attorney, Nahum Rodriguez Lara, who
was supposed to defend the workers, half giving information and half
chiding the workers, as he said, when a worker asked for the contract,
"What for? Are you going to frame it and hang it in your living
room?"
"It causes us some doubts," said the workers, "because they
don't tell us the truth. We don't even know what we signed; they tell us
it was a voluntary resignation." I was also present at one of the
workers' first meetings, having been invited by some of the women workers,
and saw how Caballero became furious over the workers' initiative to seek
outside help. He was especially angry they had given interviews to the
press exposing the former-manager's fraud, and how he had threatened that
if they went off on their own they would lose everything. Gabriel Corrado,
the lawyer who accompanied him, told people who asked for the agreements
signed under lockdown that they were entirely legal. If they were not,
Corrado said, the Labor Department authorities would not have accepted
them, "because if anyone gave up any of their rights, they would not
be approved," he assured them.
Now you have "your" union
In June another person appeared with Caballero and the supervisor, and
after winning the confidence of the workers, he asked for their voting
credentials. It later turned out they had been signed up in a
"union," without any explanation whatsoever. This man, Jesus
Ortiz, claimed to be a representative of the Front of Labor Organizations
of Mexico (Frente de Organizaciones Sindicales de Mexico (FOSIM). Later,
in October, Ortiz informed them that they would be going on strike to
demand the sale of the machinery and the payment to the workers. It was
all part of the trick. No strike was ever organized, and Ortiz disappeared
shortly together with his associates -- and the workers never heard
anything more about "their" union, except that Ortiz had run off
with their money. After a lot of running around, in November, the workers
finally got a copy of the agreement, where they learned about the huge
amounts of money demanded by Caballero.
Since the agreements had not been implemented by the date indicated, the
workers were given the machinery to sell off, but the people who actually
got possession of the assets were Caballero and the supervisor -- the
Church in the hands of Luther [that is the fox in charge of the chicken
coop-- translator's note]! At the Local Labor Board No. 59, located in
Tijuana, the workers learned that the actions taken by attorney Javier
Avila, who those gentlemen had hired, not only did not contribute to a
solution, but had actually undermined the defense of the workers'
interests. The workers had since February tried to inform themselves about
these matters, and asked for copies of the documents (and went in vain on
three occasions to Tijuana). In spite of the fact that the Federal Labor
Law says that they should receive immediate attention, only after March 3
did they get all the documents.
We demand respect for our labor rights
That very same day the workers, women and men, staged a demonstration
of the "Citizen's Wednesday" hearing. They later marched to the
Labor Department, where they called upon city attorney Ricardo Fernández
Candia and Labor Board President Celina Tostado to respect their labor
rights. They demanded that the agreements be brought into conformity with
the Federal Labor Law, since it is the responsibility of the labor
authorities to aid and protect the workers' interests. They demanded their
severance pay, their benefits, and their lost wages. Both officials
promised to support them, and the workers intend to see that these
officials keep to their word. Having been tricked so many times, the
workers said they will be back regularly to insist this promise is kept.
On April 15 it will be a year since the Flor de Baja workers were laid
off, and still their problem has not been solved. Many people have not
been able to find work, and many of the women are still unemployed. But
now they have advanced, have named their representatives, and have united
and organized, and they declare that they are prepared to fight and to win
respect for their labor rights.
Mercedes Gema López Limón is a Senior Researcher at the Instituto de
Investigaciones Sociales of the Autonomous University of Baja California
(UABC), glopez@uabc.mx
********************
Women Workers in Mexico's Maquila Industry
Excerpts from presentation to International Women's Conference by
Gemma Lopez Limon (Mexico)
By GEMA LOPEZ LIMON
[Note: Following are excerpts from the presentation by Gema Lopez
Limon to the Feb. 21, 2002, International Women's Conference in Berlin.
Lopez Limon is a researcher at the University of Baja California in
Mexicali, Mexico.]
In this contribution, I will report on a group of women workers who toil
in one of the most dynamic economic sectors in the Mexican economy -- the
maquiladora [assembly plant] export industry.
According to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and
Information (INEGI), an estimated 1.1 million people, half of whom are
women, work in Mexico's maquiladora industry. The real number is
undoubtedly much higher. These maquiladora plants are exempt from Mexico
Federal Labor Law (LFT). All real trade union activity is banned. All
attempts to organize independent unions have been repressed severely.
Where "unions" exist, they are run and controlled by the
employers and the government.
The maquiladora industry is deregulated industry par excellence.
The lack of basic labor rights pertains to both men and women. There is no
legal 8-hour workday. Shifts of 10 to 12 hours are commonplace, as is
forced overtime without overtime pay rates. The worst conditions of
superexploitation are prevalent. The rates of pay are roughly 1/20th of
what they are across the border in the United States.
In the maquilas you find all of the following: no hygiene on the job, no
protection against hazardous materials, no ventilation, no regular rest
and food breaks, no benefits, no Social Security or heathcare coverage, no
protection against employer abuse (including physical abuse), no recourse
to redress grievances, no government inspection to prevent child labor --
and the list goes on.
To these conditions of super-exploited labor one must add others which
directly affect women:
Mexico's Federal Labor Law (and Convention 103 of the ILO) establish
maternity rights so to grant protection to pregnant women. Nonetheless,
the maquiladoras negate these rights across the board, as they demand that
women present a certificate stating they are not pregnant if they want the
job -- or later, if they want to keep their job. (In numerous plants, the
supervisors go so far as to order women to show their menstrual sanitary
napkins.) If a woman is found to be pregnant, she can be fired
immediately.
There are no childcare centers for working mothers.
Night work for women in the maquilas is widespread -- despite the fact
that it puts workers' health, security and life at grave risk.
A very high proportion of the 270 women murdered in the past few years in
the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua -- the main maquiladora center
of the country -- are maquila workers. One who was killed was a girl 13
years old. Their deaths are still unpunished. Reports of rapes and
assaults on women who work the night shift and leave in the early morning
are frequent.
Another regular problem is sexual harassment suffered by women workers at
the hands of their supervisors, managers and bosses, who pressure them for
sexual favors in exchange for being hired, made permanent or being
promoted in a job.
During some of our own research on women in the maquiladoras in the border
city of Mexicali, Baja California, we gathered testimonies from many
workers. Here are some examples we found:
Maria is 15 years old. She is a maquiladora worker like her mother.
Between the two they sustain the family. She tells us she works from 6
a.m. till 4 p.m., but very often she is forced to work double shift (at
straight pay). She does all her work standing up. Sitting is not
permitted, even for a moment; they can only sit when they have a short
break. The environment is full of noise, and the tasks are very heavy. She
is very worried because her mother is pregnant and when her situation
becomes evident, they will fire her and Maria will be left with the job of
sustaining the household.
Carmen is an older person. She entered work in one of the few maquilas
that hire women her age. She, too, is on foot the entire work day -- even
though her legs swell up. She is not allowed to sit. Carmen and the other
workers in her plant do not have social security or healthcare coverage.
She got her job from official state institution known as the Whole Family
Development (DIF), which rounds up these women and takes them to the
factory.
Silvia had worked as an administrative employee in a maquiladora for more
than 10 years. Now she is studying in college. They just changed her
schedule, increased the work day by one hour and took away an hour from
her lunch break -- all for the same salary. As a result, Silvia cannot
continue her studies. She protested and the bosses fired her.
These three stories reflect the harsh reality confronting an increasing
number of working women in Mexico. We must put a stop to these mounting
attacks by reversing the corporate "free trade" agenda, by
building independent trade unions, and by fighting for enforceable labor
rights, based on the ILO Conventions -- without any exemptions!