Friday, April 4, 2008

A Typical Day for a Mexican Sweatshop Worker


I found a great source discussing the topic of Mexican sweatshops. Its called “Sweatshops In Mexico”
Labor is a lot cheaper in Mexico than in the Unites States, so it is cheap and convenient for American companies to have their products made in Mexico. Not surprisingly, a lot of the factories that made these products were built near the US/Mexican border. These factories are known as "maquila" or "maquiladora".
This is what a typical day might have in store for a sweatshop worker.

Pay and working conditions can be terrible. This is what two women told human rights workers about the maquila where they work in Tehuacan, south-east of Mexico City:
Each shift is from 8.30 am until 8.30 pm, but if workers do not complete the number of clothes they have been told to make that day, they must work longer without any pay;
On Saturdays, people must work from 8 am until 5 pm without a lunch break;
Workers are paid between $30 and $50 per week;
Girls as young as 12 and 13 work in the factory;
When workers leave the factory (to go to lunch or to go home) they are searched to make sure they haven't stolen anything;
When women are hired, they are tested to see if they are pregnant. If they are pregnant, they are fired.
If you arrive 15 minutes late, you must work for 3 days without pay.
When one man was sick for a day, he lost a whole week's pay.
When maquila workers organized an independent trade union about 10 years ago, one of its leaders was assassinated. And on one occasion when some human rights workers visited a maquila, armed guards put guns to their heads. The maquila workers were terrified that their bosses might find out who had been talking. So life as a Mexican sweatshop over is got a great life at all. I am very grateful for being born in the greatest country in the world.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great, thanks, this really helped me with my assignment on human rights and sweatshops.

Thanks for the picture too - it was hard to find a sweatshop picture as good as this one.