la maquila

On Monday I met with Juana de los Angeles, who is going to be my internship supervisor. I think she does a lot of different things with her time, but one thing that she does is work with women that work in the maquiladoras nearby and form women's groups to talk about what is going on in their jobs and their health. One of the big health problems that comes from working in a maquila is low calcium levels, because people are sitting all day and don't get to move around. That, coupled with poor diet makes young women have similar calcium levels to a 75 year old woman living and working in the countryside.

we visited the maquiladora earlier in the semester with her and learn about the working conditions and salary and all that. I don't have the facts in front of me, but it will suffice to say that they are low, and workers are paid by the piece so if they mess up for some reason, they take in all the negative consequences. The maquiladora that we visited made bathing suits. they were actually for the 2009 season, because the swimsuits for this summer are being shipped to stores right now. they make bathing suits that are sold in Macy's, Bloomingdales, JC Penny, etc. maquilas got started before NAFTA and are in their own tax-free production zone. all the material is sent in from the US and everything has to go back, even the little thread scraps all over the floor. it would be more expensive to keep a swimsuit in Mexico because of the taxes that will be imposed on it, rather than ship it all the way back to the US.

on Monday I went back to this same maquila with her because she has a relationship with the human resources people there. we are planning to have cine (movie) nights with groups of people and then talk a little bit after the movie about the themes in the movie or whatever else. then after we have a good group and people know us, we can help them do a small project. Last time they did a small brochure that was like a comic that dealt with education and relationship issues. the funny thing to me is that we pretty much have to hold the movie on company property. from Juana's past experience, people will not come if they have to spend time and money on transportation to another place. Even if the workers have a good relationship with management, I know that being on company property will change what workers have to say about the company. at least in the US that’s an issue, and I would assume in Mexico it would be the same. so we'll see. I hope that we can draw people in and form a group, then maybe move off company property..??

unions here are really interesting, because they are SUPER corrupt. they are institutionalized in the government somehow (I should check exactly how) which does ensure longevity but with that comes too much security, i think. The unions for many years, the unions were linked with the PRI, which is the political party that held power for 70 years straight. the heads of unions get a lot of money, and often don't have the interests of the workers in mind. There are some good independent unions, but they have to be independent of the whole system, and that’s really hard to organize.

now here are some pictures that have nothing to do with what I just wrote:


This is the street that I live on. The house that I live in is called "Casa Verde," as you can see by the green tiles.




these are some pictures of the other students in the group, if you are interested who I am making friends with :)

love
Ruth