Imagine working tirelessly in a factory all day with the constant pressure of trying to support your family. This is the reality for millions of Mexican workers employed in maquiladoras. Maquiladoras are factories of foreign companies, mostly American, that use Mexican natives to build their products. The problem is many believe work for these improvised people is a good thing. However, the conditions of the factories are dangerous and the many implications of having these foreign factories in Mexico do not benefit the people in the long run. Maquiladoras ignore the well-being of workers proving that they should be banned. The working conditions in the Maquiladoras endanger workers. Women workers are denied access to social, maternity, and health benefits (Woman’s Labor). Woman are at a disadvantage if they get pregnant. There are no benefits for these workers to fall back on, as soon as they get pregnant they are fired because the factory managers do not want to pay a medical leave. In such cases, workers can easily be replaced and there are dramatic changes in employment for families. “Government oversight is poor. There are not enough inspectors. There is no obligatory inspection scheme, only a voluntary one, and inspections are arranged in advance, with no surprise visits” (Godoy). No inspections of the maquiladora work environment leaves room for factories to have no responsibility on keeping the work environment safe. The factories try to cover up the bad conditions by arranging inspections. There are no safety standards for the employees which leads to a dangerous work space. Workers receive $3.40 an hour, not enough to support a family (Shah). The pay received by workers is low, lower then minimum wage resulting i... ... middle of paper ... ...can people should say yes to fair market trade. They should make sure the products and the companies they love pay their workers in developing countries fairly. Works Cited Chery, Dady. "Sweatshops: Stepping Stone or Dead End?” Haiti Grassroots Watch, 21 Dec. 2011. Web. 7 May 2014. Godoy, Emilio. "Mexico: Maquiladora Factories Manufacture Toxic Pollutants - Inter Press Service." Inter Press Service. 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 7 May 2014. "Mexico: Planting a Seed for Change in Women’s Labor Rights." LAB. Latin American Bureau, 8 Mar. 2012. Web. 7 May 2014. Paterson, Kent. "Mexican Workers Fight for Rights." LAB. Latin America Bureau, 9 Mar. 2010. Web. 7 May 2014. Shah, Mitali. "Cons of Maquiladoras." Cons of Maquiladoras. 9 May 2009. Web. 7 May 2014. Villarreal, Angeles. "U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications.” 9 Aug. 2012. Web. 7 May 2014.
Under this development, foreign companies could set up plants within 100 miles of the United States/Mexico border. These were known as maquiladoras (Broughton 5). Maytag and other manufacturing companies took advantage of this opportunity for the cheap labor, land, resources and thus ability to be more profitable. Maquiladora employment tripled to 1.3 million in 2001, since 1990 (Broughton 142). Maytag’s plant was called Planta III and required less jobs and less skilled labor than what was required in Galesburg. This was good for the company’s bottom line, but bad for employees. The employers had complete control since labor was so easily replaceable. The workers began to be looked at as machines; interchangeable and dispensable and thus were not getting a fair wage. In Mexico the average cost for one week of food was $81 but maquiladora employees would only get paid $36 per week (Broughton 152). Maquiladoras also hurt the local and national Mexican economies. Locals would say that “the only thing maquiladoras have done is occupy the workforce … they don’t resolve any of the problems they generate…overpopulation, lack of social services, school and health care. All of this is what the maquiladoras have brought” (Broughton 153). These companies were simply there to make a profit and provide jobs, not to enrich the employee’s or communities lives. The profits from
The documentary El Contrato follows the exploits of Mexican migrant workers as they find themselves being exploited. In particular, it follows one man, Teodoro Martinez, a father of 4 who has worked many seasons in Canada. Teodoro returns year after year. He does not return because he enjoys it, he returns for the pay. The migrant workers are chosen with certain criteria in mind. These ‘desirable’ traits are that they have minimal, if any, education and a family in Mexico. The workers chosen are typically quite poor, many not owning a house. The pay is better than what they could get in Mexico, so they must make the decision to desert their families for two thirds of the year to support their loved ones. They are brought to a town where most
Affairs 12.3/4 (1971): 378-415. Jstor.org. Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Miami. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Factory workers worked twelve to fifteen hours a day in hazardous condition. There were no protective rules for women and children and no insurances for job-related accidents or industrial illness. The workers were obliged to trade at company store
The owners of these factories had no incentive to look out for the child’s safety or health. The workers also followed a very strict schedule. All workers had to be at the same place at the same time allotted to them. If a worker was injured, he was easily replaced. Another negative was the working conditions.
Benitez, Gerardo, Latin American Perspectives: The Maquiladora Program Its Challenges Ahead, THE WHARTON JOURNAL, December 11, 1995.
Look down at the clothes you're wearing right now, chances are almost every single thing you are currently wearing was made in a sweatshop. It is estimated that between 50-75% of all garments are made under sweatshop like conditions. Designers and companies get 2nd party contractors to hire people to work in these factories, this is a tool to make them not responsible for the horrendous conditions. They get away with it by saying they are providing jobs for people in 3rd world countries so its okay, but in reality they are making their lives even worse. These companies and designers only care about their bank accounts so if they can exploit poor, young people from poverty stricken countries they surely will, and they do. A sweatshop is a factory
The documentary strived to show us how factories were corrupt that they couldn’t provide good working conditions for the workers until we lost people. This documentary is about the tragic fire that took place on March 25, 1911 in the Triangle factory. We can clearly see through this documentary that these people didn’t matter to the factory owners because their needs were not met. The documentary shows that the year before the fire took place the workers led a strike asking for better working conditions, but obviously their voices were not heard. After the fire took place this is when factories started improving working conditions. It is sad to learn that it took 146 lives of innocent people in order for factory owners to be convinced that they need to improve the poor working
Large corporations such as Nike, Gap, and Reebok and many others from the United States have moved their factories to undeveloped nations; barely pay their employees enough to live on. Countries such as China, Indonesia, and Haiti have readily abundant cheap labor. There should be labor laws or an obligation of respecting workers to provide decent working conditions, fair wages, and safety standards.
A great majority of maquiladora employees are young women who have migrated to the border area from “supporting agricultural [regions]” (Cravey, 6). Migration, itself, is a complicated process which could have profound affects on the mental health of maquiladora workers. Migration has been found to have negative effects
Casimir, J, & Claypool, M 2012, ‘Going Backwards Toward the Future: From Haiti to Saint-Domingue,’ The Global South, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 172-192.
De Cordoba, José & Lunhow, David. “The Perilous State of Mexico.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow
During The Great Depression and World War II, large numbers of Mexican women and men joined the workforce, unions, and other organizations (Page 212). The workplace allowed Mexican women to socialize with one another and they finally for the first time experience what it is like to be independent without relying on any man. “By 1930, some 25 percent of Mexican (and Mexican American) women were in some kind of industrial employment” (Acuna 215). However, Mexican Americans were paid less than a white American, especially Mexican women. In order to for Mexican and Mexican Americans to fight for their rights to be paid and be treated like a white American, Mexican women formed labor unions that would you united them and protest against the owners
Haiti is drenched in poverty, corruption, and lack of education. Due to these aspects Haiti is “the least developed country in the western hemisphere”. With only one-third of suitable land...
Indigenous people of the world have historically been and continue to be pushed to the margins of society. Similarly, women have experienced political, social, and economical marginalization. For the past 500 years or so, the indigenous peoples of México have been subjected to violence and the exploitation since the arrival of the Spanish. The xenophobic tendencies of Spanish colonizers did not disappear after México’s independence; rather it maintained the racial assimilation and exclusion policies left behind by the colonists, including gender roles (Moore 166) . México is historically and continues to be a patriarchal society. So when the Zapatista movement of 1994, more formally known as the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación National (Zapatista Army of National Liberation; EZLN) constructed a space for indigenous women to reclaim their rights, it was a significant step towards justice. The Mexican government, in haste for globalization and profits, ignored its indigenous peoples’ sufferings. Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico, consisting of mostly indigenous peoples living in the mountains and country, grew frustration with the Mexican government. It was in that moment that the Zapatista movement arose from the countryside to awaken a nation to the plight of indigenous Mexicans. Being indigenous puts a person at a disadvantage in Mexican society; when adding gender, an indigenous woman is set back two steps. It was through the Zapatista movement that a catalyst was created for indigenous women to reclaim rights and autonomy through the praxis of indigeneity and the popular struggle.