The Last word

Mexican struggles: They’re not so far from home The “global economy” is showing signs of total disregard for basic human rights and hard-won freedoms. We need only cross our southern border into Mexico to get a firsthand look at a war aimed at worker rights and human dignity. This war comes in the name of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Eight years after the pact was implemented, thousands of men, women and children who are working in the industrial parks that have materialized in the Mexican border towns are unappreciated, underpaid, fearful and discouraged.

Since the implementation of the agreement, foreign companies from the U.S., Japan, Korea, Canada and other industrialized nations have flocked to these border towns to take advantage of the cheap labor force and the Mexican government’s reluctance to enforce constitutional labor laws or its own stringent environmental laws. In fact, the Mexican government has turned a blind eye and allowed these companies to ignore all rules and regulations designed to protect Mexican citizens from being abused. Mexicans anxiously awaited the arrival of these companies, and saw their arrival as a way out of the devastating poverty that engulfed them; salvation was not exactly what arrived.

In the haste to sign NAFTA, many details pertaining to labor laws and environmental issues were left unsettled. The popular school of thought was to get the project off the ground and work out the finer details later. That decision turned out to be the downfall of the agreements and the Achilles heel of the Mexican worker.

Meanwhile, the Mexican workers are struggling to organize independent non-company unions to bring these issues to the bargaining table and to the government agencies responsible for monitoring infractions. These independent unions, and the organizing effort being made to bring independent unions to fruition, have come up against some formidable obstacles. The companies refuse to make concessions to the independent unions and will negotiate only with the company unions now in place. These company unions, however, are not at all sympathetic to the needs of the workers. When workers complain to the company unions about some violation of their rights, many lose their jobs for speaking out. Some of these fired workers have become organizers for the independent unions, but are often blacklisted, branded as terrorists by the government-run newspapers or become unemployable by any company.

Mexican workers are fighting to make major changes in the policies adopted by these global companies and the corrupt government officials who benefit from ignoring the pleas of their constituents. These unscrupulous companies will go to any length to increase their profits and deny their workforce an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. There have even been instances where the company abandoned the plant, owing back wages to the unsuspecting workers, only to open up in another town under a different company name.

So why is this situation so important in the U.S.? For one thing, such a fight will soon arrive at our doorstep. Global companies are on the attack against the global workforce. All indications lead us to believe that these companies will do whatever they can to erode established working conditions. The U.S. has seen companies reduce the number of full-time positions in favor of part-time positions, where benefits are reduced or eliminated. We have seen companies moving to “right-to-work states” to avoid bargaining collectively with unions.

Is there any hope? Perhaps the president of Mexico, Vicente Fox Quesada, can bring about the necessary changes to alleviate the pressures that negatively affect the Mexican workers. He has promised to tear down the corrupt and inefficient legacies of the past and to erect modern and rational practices in their place. To do all he has promised will require constitutional changes, the cooperation of a divided Congress and a great deal of luck.

There are also the efforts of organizations such as the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition, NYSUT, UUP and other unions that sponsor some of the organizers in the independent union effort. These organizations also help to spread the word of these injustices and to alert American workers of the actions and policies adopted by these global companies. These organizations are also providing other means of support for the workers: In the Colonias, where the workers live with their families, schools are being built with donations from these organizations. Individual members sponsor children by paying the cost of sending them to school, which totals $200 a year per student.

Many other efforts are being considered every day to further the cause, but most important is the need for the U.S. working class to be ready to resist the attempts of these companies to take away our rights and dignity.

The Mexican people have lost a great many of their constitutional rights as a result of this new global economy. There is nothing to suggest that these companies will be satisfied until all workforces yield to their demands of working long hours for little pay and even fewer benefits.

The Mexican worker is fighting this fight today. If we ignore what is going on, we will be fighting it tomorrow.

(José Feliciano is treasurer of the UUP chapter at Stony Brook.)