Maquiladora Workers Fight For Unions and Aganist NAFTA

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080415122642471

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.


FULL story at link.