Spotted in the Industrial Worker:

Mexican maquila workers denounce NAFTA

By Rachel Rosen

They produce air bags, seat belts, and other equipment that millions of North American motorists depend on for accident protection. But working and living conditions are anything but safe for more than 3,500 workers at Key Safety Systems’ (KSS) factories in northern Mexico.

Workers at the company’s four plants in Valle Hermoso face poverty wages, exposure to toxic and carcinogenic chemicals without the required safety equipment, and deplorable housing conditions in communities poisoned by the factories’ output.

Israel Monroy and Perla Cruz, who work at KSS plants, are both activists with the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM), which is struggling to form an independent union at the automotive parts manufacturer. The CJM’s demands are straightforward: They want a living wage, health and safety protection, and the right to organize. In support of the campaign, Monroy and Cruz have embarked on a North American tour to raise awareness about their struggle for dignity and justice.

From March 16-18, they spoke to people at the Concord Café at an event hosted by the Toronto IWW branch and presented their story to students at two local high schools.

On paper, Mexico has some of the best labor legislation in the world. But since the early Eighties, when the government brought in structural adjustment programs designed to privatize key sectors of the country’s economy, workers’ rights and environmental protection have suffered. The removal of legal recognition of communal land from the Mexican Constitution in 1992 allowed transnational companies to purchase large amounts of land, paving the way for the establishment of maquiladoras, a foreign-owned factory that produces goods only for tax-free export.

Neoliberal reforms, and the signing of NAFTA in 1994, were devastating to Mexican peasants and workers. Between
1993 and 2002, the agricultural sector lost 1.4 million jobs, and the unemployed were forced into the new maquiladoras, the only source that promised new jobs and decent wages.

Workers at KSS work 48 hours a week for 616 pesos, equivalent to about $60. From that wage, 227 pesos (about $25) are deducted for payments to the company- owned union, the plant cafeteria, the national health care service, and housing.

The CJM estimates that a worker would need to work 147 minutes to afford a quart of milk.

The workers, most of whom are in their teens and early twenties, and the majority of whom are women, are exposed to chemicals that severely damage their health. Pregnant women are particularly at risk for complications that include miscarriages, premature births, and respiratory illnesses and brain disorders in children.

“Workers at the factory make 350 airbags a day,” said Cruz. “They sell for $900 each, while we earn a weekly wage of $50. Because of the work we do, they’re making profits, while we don’t have enough to eat.”

The company regularly lays off workers with no notice, cutting their pay to $25 a week.

Monroy described the issues as international in scope. “The problem is not just one bad employer. Exploitation is built into the maquiladora system. Companies set up maquiladoras so they can push workers to produce more and more while keeping wages as low as possible. It’s a model that’s part of capitalism.”

Between October 2005 and January
2006, GM cut 100,000 jobs in the US and Canada. Recently, Monroy and Cruz visited American Axle workers in Detroit who were striking over a cut in pay from $27 an hour to $12 an hour. The plant threatened to close and move to Mexico if the union refused to accept the cut.

The devastation wrought by NAFTA and transnational corporations is global, but resistance also crosses borders. Paul Bocking, an organizer with the Toronto IWW, said: “As a labour activist, I’m incredibly inspired by the courage and determination of workers at Key Safety Systems. They face huge obstacles to their struggle, yet have already accomplished so much with the limited resources they have. That’s the power of grassroots workers’ organizing; we have a lot to learn from them here in Canada.”

The CJM have built alliances across North America with progressive unions, workers’ organizations, and social justice movements.

On March 13, they led a day of coordinated actions, which included a slowdown and rally at KSS plants in Valle Hermoso, protests at Ford and GM factories, and a visit by a delegation of workers to the KSS headquarters in Sterling Heights. (See below for an account.)

The CJM has published a book, NAFTA From Below: Maquiladora Workers, Campesinos, and Indigenous Communities Speak Out on the Impact of Free Trade in Mexico, on their struggle. Since the Justice in the Maquiladoras speaking tour began on March 4, ten workers have been fired for organizing in KSS plants. The CJM has added the reinstatement of these workers to its list of demands.

“We know the struggle is difficult and we face many obstacles,” Cruz says. “But in the end, we know we’ll win.”

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