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Definitions/Introduction info
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a sweatshop is “a shop or factory in which employees work for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions.” While a maquiladora is “a foreign-owned factory in Mexico at which imported parts are assembled by lower-paid workers into products for export.” These two definitions seem awfully similar, right? While America has harsher labor laws than other countries this doesn’t mean that products in America are made sweatshop free. Many companies will have their factories set up in other countries where they can get away with sweatshop conditions. While there are many countries this happens in a country of focus is Mexico.
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Why is this topic important?
This topic is important to be aware of because huge corporations are making millions off of factory workers who are mostly targeted at women to work. These companies are filthy rich yet can’t provide the basics to these women and continue to profit off of their suffering. The maquiladoras have horrible working conditions, low pay( not enough for anyone to live on) and are keeping these women in poverty. In many of these factories, injuries are very common on the job. When most injuries do occur there is no compensation for this but they are usually fired if they get injured. If this same situation was happening in the United States we would be outraged. So why are we not outraged when we hear about these horrible working conditions that are targeted at young women in Mexico? Not to mention many of these sweatshops are very sexist towards the workers. This is very unfair considering men don’t have to go through this in their jobs in the factories. Women are scared of being sexually assaulted in these environments since it already seems like these huge corporations don't follow very many rules. In some of these sweatshops, women are forced to take pregnancy tests before being allowed the job and are often asked very personal questions about their life with no choice but to answer. Women are often fired if they are pregnant. If they aren’t fired when they’re pregnant they are put through very strenuous work so they quit. These women feel like there are no other options for them but to take these low paying hard on the body jobs because there’s a very low employment rate where they live but a need for jobs amongst a lot of people. Even though Mexico has laws against discrimination in the workplace these aren’t heavily enforced when it comes to maquiladoras. We should be very offended that Mexico is not enforcing these laws. Even though these laws can sometimes be hard to enforce and detect when they are being broken. They shouldn’t be allowing young women and children to be treated this way. They should have heavier penalties on violations of this law in Maquiladoras. Not only women should care about this topic men should care about this topic as well. One reason why men should care about this topic is that these women are providing for their families. Many men in Mexico are unemployed and aren’t able to provide for their families so these young women do it instead. If the pay and working conditions were better everyone, in general, would be living a better life. The corporations don’t need billions of dollars to live a healthy life but these maquiladora workers do need a wage that they are able to eat with, pay rent, gas money and are able to buy their children what they need like clothes and supplies for school. That’s not too much to ask for. The Mexican government should also work on the employment rates so people there will have other options for these women to work at and won’t be exclusively stuck at maquiladoras. These huge corporations definitely have enough money to pay these workers a living wage at the very least. These women also deserve child care, maternity leave, health care, and benefits of working for a company. These jobs shouldn’t injure women and make them work themselves to the bone. These companies are taking advantage of these workers for their own profit and greed. We need to stop the continuation of these harsh working conditions and unlivable outrageous wages.
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Informational source
https://search-credoreference-com.ihcproxy.mnpals.net/content/entry/fofmodern/maquiladora/0
This encyclopedia helps you understand the basics of the maquiladora assembly plants and how they started. The maquiladoras are usually located by the U.S.- Mexican border probably because most of these factories were originally based in the United States of America. Once the Bracero program was terminated( which was a contract between the United States and Mexico to let Mexican laborers into the United States to work) Mexico allowed these corporations from the U.S. to build these assembly plants. Mexico waived import fees on the stuff like reserve and appliances as long as the end product was shipped back to the U.S. This was basically a win for the companies that were in the U.S. because they didn’t have to pay import fees and labor was cheaper for them. These factories feed off of unemployment from willing people mostly women who will work for a very low price. Around the year 2,000 maquila worker’s wages started to drop even more because of other factories in different countries like parts of Asia and other Latin American countries that would work for even cheaper. The wages of these workers continued to go down significantly even though they were very small to begin with. In the maquiladoras, they have different pay ranges depending on the area of where your factory is and how bad unemployment is in your area. This left these workers in even more poverty than they began with. This source is alright to learn the basics of how the maquiladora plants were started and why. It could have gone into a lot more detail about the Bracero program and helped the reader understand why this pushed companies to set their factories up in Mexico. It also could have talked more about why people have been pushed into working these factories due to the areas these factories are in have high poverty and unemployment rates. One thing the source did well at it was giving a good generalization about these factories and how it started. If I was a reader who just wanted to know the basics of the topic and be able to understand the general feel this would be a great source to start with.
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Informational source
https://socialistworker.org/2011/11/18/misery-of-the-maquiladoras
This source does a great job at showing what is really happening to the people who work in the maquiladoras. This article interviews many different people inside working at these maquiladoras and gets their insights and stories of things that have happened to them personally while working at these factories. One woman named Maria told her story of suffering many chemical burns which turned the skin on her face dark gray while at work. She talks about how most warning labels on the chemicals are in English so she's not able to understand them to help herself. Her bosses threatened to fire her after the chemical burn accident saying that she had those burns before she started working at their factory. Her co-worker Maria stated that every morning they are abused physically and emotionally with no way to resist. She talks about people who have lost fingers and hands in the cutting machines but they just get fired. The bosses always blame the workers for the “accidents they made” while they should be regulating safe facilities. These workers don’t get compensated for the harm that's done to them by working there. There are no unions at these jobs to protect the workers. Most workers jump from job to job hoping for it to be better pay or working conditions but most maquiladoras work together to keep down wages and safety standards. This makes these workers stuck with nowhere to go except to keep working at these hard dangerous jobs. These sweatshops are profiting off these people and in return chewing them up and spitting them out. The article goes on to talk about not only the backbreaking working conditions but how these corporations have caused numerous environmental catastrophes. One thing this article did well at explaining was why bosses love this scam, maquiladoras. It later in the article goes into some detail about how the financial investment is minimal and the minimum wage in Mexico is very low. One thing I like that the source incorporated was how we can change this. It talked about a major way to prevent this from continuing is for these workers to make a union themselves and demand their rights. While I agree with what the source is saying I also think it would be great if some of the surrounding countries could help out with this. Maybe while these workers are on strike we could provide them with food and shelter or their weekly pay. Most the people in these jobs are stuck in these jobs because they need the essentials to take care of their family if another country helps out and gives them this it gives them the opportunity to speak out against the maquiladoras.
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Maquilapolis documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUQgFzkE3i0
I wanted to include this documentary on the women working in the maquiladoras. This video shows the hard truth of the intensive labor and poor pay that maquiladoras are providing. I think this documentary is a great resource because you can actually hear the story of these women and see inside their world a little bit.
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Informational source
:https://www.hrw.org/news/1996/08/17/mexicos-maquiladoras-abuses-against-women-workers
This article goes over how the Mexican government fails to protect women from being discriminated against in the maquiladoras. These maquiladoras facilities intimidate women and ask very personal questions that definitely not work appropriate or for that case any of their business. Some of these questions could include their sexual history, contraceptive use, menstrual schedule. These corporations often subject female employees to urine tests but usually not to males. When there should be the same standards and tests for both sexes when it comes to working these jobs.”Maquiladoras owned by major corporations, including General Motors, General Electric, Zenith, Panasonic, W.R. Grace, Sunbeam-Oster, Carlisle Plastics, Sanyo, and AT&T, were all found to require pregnancy exams as a condition of employment, thereby subjecting women applicants to different hiring criteria than men.” These companies are well off and definitely don’t need to be penny pinching off of people who already have so little. They should not be able to deny women jobs because they are expecting a child. Men aren’t denied jobs if they are expecting a kid so why is it any different for women? These corporations don't want to hire pregnant women because they don’t want to give them maternity leave and company funded maternity benefits. In the article it also states how in the maquiladoras corporations will up the workload of pregnant women, make pregnant women work unpaid overtime, make them do more strenuous work and, refusing pregnant women to do easier or less stressful tasks on their body. These corporations do this to make the pregnant women quit, leading them not to have to give them their well deserved time off when the baby is born. While sex discrimination is prohibited by law in Mexico employees that have worked in these facilities say that their bosses have said to the interviewee that if they were expecting they wouldn’t get hired and if they become pregnant they would be fired. Overall this article does a great job of highlighting the discrimination these women go through in the maquiladoras. The author shows disapproval that Mexico is standing by and letting this discrimination go on in these corporations when it is in fact very illegal to fire someone or deny them a job solely because they are pregnant. One thing I wish this article would have included is more information on the harsh working conditions of the maquiladoras.
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Source of change
https://www.maquilasolidarity.org/
The Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) is a labor rights and women rights organization based out of Toronto, Canada. They have a small office in Mexico City but their main focus of work is in Central America and Mexico. MSN has been working for 25 years to support, improve wages and working conditions when it comes to the global garment and shoemaking factories. The MSN supports women's labor rights and is fighting against violations of rights in the factories. They collaborate with other organizations to make intricate global campaigns to help them succeed in reaching their goals. They engage with and sometimes campaign against the companies that violate the laws and rights of the people working in these factories. MSN also holds the government accountable for adopting policies and legislation that motivate these companies to conduct basic human rights and needs for these workers. They also address how these companies harm their employees in their global supply chains. MSN calls out and raises awareness against bigger brands that are not giving their employees living wages and good working conditions.This website has a place where you can view MSN’s financial statements and see how much they have fought and put towards their projects. They are very active on their website and post very frequently about updates towards equality or events that have happened in Mexico or sometimes other countries about the working conditions in garment factories. It also has a whole section specifically talking about gender-based discrimination in the workplace. MSN also teams up with central American women’s and trade union organizations to make sure that employers and the government is providing childcare services for women workers. MSN also tries to raise awareness when it comes to the double standard of women working in these very hard on the body factories and working at home caring for their children and other family members. Not to mention some women face debilitating injuries like,muscular-skeletal injuries that force them back into the informal economy due to the horrible working conditions. This organization has eight different sections of information about their work these sections are titled Living Wage, Woman's Rights, Right to Childcare, Freedom of Association, Supporting Freedom of Association in Mexico, Corporate Accountability and Government Policy, Transparency, and Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety and Workers Rights. They have much more on their website though, that includes updates, current events, their resources and how to help. Though their main focus is workers of the maquiladoras, they also help and raise awareness of other countries that have unfair working conditions. Overall this organization has so much to offer when it comes to helping eliminate harsh working conditions and fighting for worker’s rights in other countries.
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Source of change
https://en.archive.maquilasolidarity.org/
I also wanted to include this archive of the Maquila solidarity network. Even though they have a new website with awesome information this website still has a lot of valuable information. You can see where they began adding information and how they have progressed throughout the years. This organization overall is one of the most informational and progressive when it comes to fair wage is and good working conditions for women in the maquiladoras.
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Source of change
https://cleanclothes.org/livingwage-old
This nonprofit organization works on not only making sure maquiladoras have safe working conditions they focus on many other countries as well. Clean clothes campaign is a global network with its main goal to improve working conditions and empowering workers in the global government in sportswear industries. This campaign has been going on since 1989. The clean clothes campaign wants the rights of workers respected. The clean clothes campaign is very committed to challenging the gender inequality and sex discrimination faced by factory workers the majority which are women. When women workers don’t have a lot of influence in their place of work they usually get denied the right to join a union .Women workers are in vulnerable positions especially if they are young and don’t have much education. These jobs are usually really stressful for these women who work long hours because it can come into conflict with the woman’s ability to fulfill responsibilities that they are expected to do at home. This can lead to a lack of sleep and lead to stressful situations at home as well. They help educate consumers, companies, and governments. They not only help raise awareness to consumers but they also help support workers as they are fighting for the rights to better working conditions. They help develop campaign strategies to support workers with what they want to achieve. This group also collaborates with similar labor rights campaigns. This organization puts pressure on companies and governments to take responsibility and make sure the rights of these workers are implemented in their job. The clean clothes campaign also helps develop a network to have a global alliance for worker’s rights. This campaign also believes that the public has a right to know where and how their garments and sports shoes are produced. Many big-time companies that use maquiladoras hide the fact that they do so. They also believe that companies should be transparent about the conditions in the structures of their networks and regarding actions undertaken to uphold good labor standards. The clean clothes campaign overall is a very great organization. On their website, they even have ways and suggestions of how you can get involved with this topic other than donating money. They even have a PDF card that you can print out and give to employees in places you shop or send this PDF card to a retailer’s headquarter. This PDF card has questions about how the clothes are made and where. I thought this was a really smart innovative idea that almost anyone could do.
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Informational source
https://nacla.org/article/%27maquila%27-women
This article starts off following the story of Rosario, a mother who was abandoned by her husband shortly after they were married and the death of their child. After this, she went to go live with her mother, younger brother two aunts and their children. She was very poor but landed a job at maquiladora which required education, (she had nine years of education) She explained her weekly schedule "My shift runs from 6:30 in the morning to 3:30in the afternoon from Monday to Friday. On Saturdays, I work from 6:30 to 11:30 a. m. -forty-eight hours in total every week. On Fridays, I get paid 1, 001 pesos (slightly less than $43). I give my mother half of my weekly wage. Transportation, meals at the factory and personal expenses take care of the rest.” The article continues with the day to day basis of young maquila workers. Most income for families in these areas comes from wages their young daughter makes at the factories. In Ciudad Juarez more than half of the total workforce is composed of women, 85% of the maquiladora workforce is female. They also talk about how the different areas a maquiladora is in creates different pay along with higher requirements to be employed at different maquiladoras. “Gender takes their place as a way to divide the labor force. Like Blacks or Latinos in the United States, women are preferentially hired to perform some of the worst paid and least rewarding jobs. This preference depends on stereotypes of and prejudice directed against the group in question.” Maquiladoras think they can get away with making women do some of the hardest work for the lowest payment because they believe women are submissive and since they are usually their main income for their household it doesn’t give them much wiggle room to argue about their wages or workload. This source also states that these factories are very selective about who they pick to employ. Some examples of discrimination they use to pick employees are they must be between the age of 17-25, childless and at least six years of formal education. The average amount for education for Mexican workers is 3.8 years. This requirement is almost double the average. This is all for about a $1 an hour wage. This article also goes on to talk about the very young workers that some maquiladoras are employing along with reasoning on why women are taking these jobs. This source does a very good job at showing the maquiladoras are a very real problem in Mexico. While this source gives you a story of a woman who worked in these factories it also gives you the facts and the stance behind this.
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Source of change
https://factoryguide.fairwear.org/about/
The Fair Wear Foundation in general works to create a garment industry that is fair for everyone. The Fair Wear Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works with other government brands to improve working conditions for workers. So far this organization is teamed up with 130 different brands that are showing that there’s a right way to make clothes. They try to verify that certain brands are creating clothes ethically. They conduct checks, audit factories and have their members figure out how these companies are working towards better labor conditions. They share this information with the public when they are done creating their plan. After they’re done with this the create complete helplines for workers in the countries that they are active in. This foundation preaches transparency. Transparency is putting your brand’s activities out under the public eye instead of hiding how your clothes and where your clothes are made. This organization highly believes in the labor standards and the code of labor practices. The core of this code is made up of the labor standards from the ILO conventions and the UN declaration on human rights. These labor practices are based on international standards. Overall this organization is doing a good job of raising awareness about where your clothes are coming from. The Fair Wear Foundation wants you to investigate how and where your clothes are made to stop unfair pay and working conditions. The Fair Wear Foundation also has a list of all their current members the create their clothes fairly. This foundation also has a new section where you can see new information on this topic. One current one that they had up(but not on topic) that interested me was the global climate strike. Another recent article they had was the G7 fashion pact. They even have videos to help you understand some of these ideas rather than reading them like a ted talk by Alexander Kohnstamm titled why we should care about what we wear. It seems like overall they are in an easy foundation to contact and get a hold of which is important. Their website is pretty interactive and easy to find what you are looking for. One thing I think they could improve on on their website is more information on how to participate when it comes to volunteering for their brand check. Overall though this organization is doing a great job on creating awareness when it comes to your clothing.
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Vision Statement
I think as time goes on the maquiladoras will have to have better work environments, higher pay and not have discriminatory bosses. The fight for these things has been ongoing for over 30 years while it hasn’t completely gotten better there have been some improvements. I feel like with some of the organizations in place that have educated the workers (mostly women) on their human rights, this has helped workers challenge these corporations and not put up with their unfair ways. These women work so very hard and have to go through a lot of requirements to be employed all so they can make $1 an hour? We should be outraged by this! These organizations and articles that have been published have helped raise consciousness among the public helping get the word out about the maquiladoras. I would like to see women in these corporations succeed and change the pattern of poverty in their community instead of being treated unfairly in these multi-million dollar making factories. The maquiladoras also need to step up their policy against discrimination. No woman should be denied a job because she’s pregnant. No woman should be fired from a job because she’s pregnant. Nobody should have to answer personal questions that don’t want to. I would also hope people in the future can be aware of big brands that take advantage of people who are in poverty or that have unfair working conditions and payment. If people stop buying these products altogether and demand that they pay and treat their workers better this could be a big game changer. If no one is buying their products how will they make a profit? We as the consumers need to demand that our products are not being made in sweatshops. Support brands that support fair working conditions, fair pay and treatment. As I said earlier another thing that I would like to see happen to prevent the maquiladoras from having horrible pay and conditions is for other countries to help out and not allow this. The main reason why the workers don’t go on strike is that they are the main source of income for their family. They don’t wanna risk losing their essentials. If the United States or an organization helped these workers out by giving them the essentials while they're on strike this could help eliminate this fear of going on strike, demanding better pay and working conditions.
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