Organizing in the Maquilas (Re: victimology)

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lou says:

>Bringing the struggle forward in time to the recent period, the maquilas in
>the northern part of the country have not been arenas of struggle, either
>for the woman's movement, the socialist movement, or the trade union
>movement. Women, stripped of the communal bonds of the village, end up as
>atomized wage slaves whose only escape from grinding low-wage labor is
>downtown honky-tonks.
<snip>
>The only political action taking place in the maquila zone is defense of
>the right to live and to be protected from rape, being led by a courageous
>feminist.

The way you speak about Mexican women workers in Maquilas, you make
me think that they have _never_ tried to organize anything
themselves.  I don't know why you have such a dim opinion of Mexican
women!

*****   ...Organizing in the Maquilas

Organizing in the maquila begins in the factory along production
lines and in departments.  It must be organized clandestinely.  How
long the organization can be maintained often depends on solidarity.
Although maquila workers' movements start for various reasons, such
as low salaries, mistreatment, sexual harassment and recently labor
and reproductive health, most of them result in the search for
independent union organization, outside the corrupt phantom central
unions.

Given the conditions inside and outside the maquila, and the fact
that the majority of maquila workers are women, the forms of
organization are just beginning to be defined by the women
themselves.  We speak of a "model" of organization, since they are
being built through trial and error.

The meaning of these new forms of organization in the maquila is that
more and more women workers are conscious not only that their labor
rights are being violated, but also their rights as women.  Women are
finding strength by developing their identity as women and as workers
through the realization that they are the main generators of wealth -
wealth which is not being reinvested in the country.

On the women working the maquila, who are inside the factories and
suffer the working conditions, can produce a change.  But this
movement cannot advance without the unity and solidarity of the
various movements mentioned here.

The labor movement being built by women maquila workers, and the
links being developed, provide a new dimension for the union
movement.  The labor movement of today must contemplate a broader
spectrum of demands and forms of organization that include labor,
union, gender, anti-racist, and environmental organizations.  In the
case of the environmental movement, it is important that it
emphasizes the human aspect of the environment. maquila are an
environmentally racist form of production, affecting first the women
workers on the production line and then the living environment of the
community.

It is of utmost importance that the democratic union movement of
Mexico see organizing in the maquila as a priority, something that
has not yet been done.  There is also an important role for other
labor or solidarity movements, both those in the country from where
the transnationals come (such as the US) and the southern countries
where the maquila are being located.

The effects of NAFTA, such as the worsening of living conditions for
the working class and women in the US and Canada, have resulted in
the movements in these countries approaching Mexico.  There are
important links being developed between various movements, including
union, labor and women organizations in Canada and the US.  Contacts
are being made with similar movements in Europe.

In Mexico, during the Fourth Workshop of Women Workers of the
maquila, held in Tijuana on June 23-25, 1995, a Network of Women
maquila Workers with International Links was formalized.  This is one
of the first steps in a joint reflection and struggle, acting locally
and thinking globally.

The experience in the development of the Network is an example of the
combination of old and new forms of organization of the working
class, of
the community, feminist, internationalist and anti-racist movements.

The Network of Women maquila Workers with International Links was
born from a series of workshops beginning in 1993, which were held in
different cities along Mexico's northern border.  These workshops
were opportunities for meeting and training, and also for
systematizing and building the organizational experience.  The
presence of women workers and women's non-governmental organizations
involved in different organizational processes in Mexico, as well as
the internationalist presence of women from Central America, United
States and Canada, gave birth to this grassroots network based firmly
in the region but with an international vision and contacts.

The women's support groups - which combine direct labor advice,
training in human rights, and labor, reproductive and sexual health
services,
educational programs against sexual harassment and domestic violence
- reinforce and promote resistance and organizing being developed by
women workers in the maquila.

The local, regional, national and international solidarity networks
help to raise awareness that conditions suffered by both women and
men workers is not restricted to a single country of the North or the
South.  We all, women and men, are being subject to intents of
submission, of bringing us back to slavery. We are being left only
with our chains, which we must break.

Carmen Valadez is on the Coordinating Committee of the Mexico Network
of Women Maquila Workers and on the Coordinating Council of the
Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.  Jaime Cota
is with the Workers Information Center.

Reprinted from Race, Poverty & the Environment, Summer/Fall 1996.
RPE/Earth Island Institute, Box 29908, Presidio Station, San
Francisco, CA 94129

<http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/feature/sweatshops/organize.html>   *****

Yoshie