Team Lucky
When we think about health in the current industrial world, it becomes obvious that we cannot separate the study of human health from the study of human environment. We know that environmental pollution can compromise health, and that this pollution disproportionately affects those who live and work close to harmful toxic waste. A striking example of this inequality of working conditions are the maquiladoras in Northern Mexico. Maquiladoras are factories owned by foreign companies which exist in both Mexico and South America. They are located specifically in duty-free zones, known as Export Processing Zones (or EPZ’s), where companies do not have to pay taxes or provide the same wages to employees as they would domestically. Since the work is outsourced to Mexico, these companies can provide substandard working conditions on a scale which would be unheard of in the U.S., while at the same time spending less in transportation costs because their factories are located just across the border.
These factories are often characterized by unsafe working conditions which increase productivity but negatively affect the health and safety of employees. Injuries are common in maquiladoras, such as in the case of a candy factory in Southwest Juarez, where a boiler explosion killed one worker and injured more than 50 of its 300 employees.
Similarly, these facilities use a wide array of chemicals, and many of them are toxic or labeled as hazards. Thus, not only is there a high risk of injury when working in over-crowded production facilities, but the chemicals used in production can be harmful to inhale or touch. The exact number of toxins is unknown partly because of the unwillingness to divulge, and the policy and security of the maquiladoras. Toxic effluents have also been identified with high levels contaminants such as methylene, chloride, acetone, among many, that exceeded the standards of EPA drinking water. Women and men who work in these factories do not escape the toxic material when they leave work. Many employees live in the immediate area of the factories, so their air and water is polluted with the harmful chemicals. The contaminants found in the water were found in drainage ditches adjoining residential areas that were particularly served by shallow water wells. Many of the local communities draw their water supplies from surface sources which have been polluted by human waste and toxins that are clearly contributed by maquiladoras. These use city drainage systems that fail to control their effluents and thus affects a large amount of communities, therefore not only putting at risk the employee’s health but his or her family’s and community’s as well. The burden of chemical inhalation and risk of injury does not fall evenly on all people living near the maquiladoras. The majority of employees at the factories are women. For decades, women have been employed heavily in factories because they are seen as more docile, dependent and have smaller hands for more detailed assembly work (Dominguez et al. 2010). A major concern regarding family life is the use of women in the maquiladoras rather than in traditional industries. Early studies indicate that women make up of 80-90% of the maquiladora workforce. The work schedule has taken away their time traditionally spent with their family, affecting the social values of the community and resulting in loss of cohesiveness in the family unit. Women are likely to drop out of school in order to get higher pay salaries, however without any education they are poorly equipped for job options and thus they seek employment in maquiladoras. In this way, gender is a social determinant of health for this society, as women are more desirable hires for foreign companies.
While
the risks of toxins in the workplace and pollution of the local area are
severe, so too are the threats to health which come from poverty itself. And
the maquiladora system reinforces this poverty by providing very low wages for
their employees. For this reason, many employees continue to work in these
toxic conditions for decades, because they cannot afford to move or change
professions. They often cannot afford basic healthcare services with the wages
they earn, and clinics and hospitals may be located far away from their homes,
making access to health services very limited.
Check out these clips of “Maquilapolis: City of Factories” or watch the full documentary here
Some human rights activists even venture to call the maquiladora industry a new kind of colonialism, where a world superpower compels the poor of another country to work for them, while failing to provide them enough wages to do anything but survive and continue to work (Sanchez, 2013). Morales et al. (2012) use Paul Farmer’s lens of structural violence to call maquiladoras abusive to local populations. Also important to note is the fragility of the maquiladora system, as workers fear for their jobs when taxes are imposed on employers, who may relocate their factories at any time, causing economic devastation in the area . In short, maquiladoras have monopolies on local markets.
There has been a growing resistance to maquiladoras and the abuse of their workforce over the past decade (Dominguez 2010). But many questions still remain: would it be unethical to remove a maquiladora from a place where people are dependent on its jobs, even if it was in the name of ending the practice of unsafe conditions? What would it take to convince corporations to pay higher wages to foreign employees, or to improve the working conditions in their factories? Should we focus on community-level empowerment or on more upstream approaches such as diversifying income-earning opportunities in the area, or both? What are the next steps for those of us who find it disturbing that these companies are doing this?
For more information on Maquiladoras, regular updates, and opportunities for letter writing campaigns and donations, visit the Maquila Solidarity Network.For information on companies that don't use sweatshops, as well as companies committed to safe environmental practices visit Green America.For more information of American policies and trade agreements which our governments enforce or don't enforce, check out this article on NAFTA and the NAALC
Works Cited
Domínguez, E., Icaza, R., Quintero, C., López, S., & Stenman, Å. (2010). Women Workers in the Maquiladoras and the Debate on Global Labor Standards. Feminist Economics, 16(4), 185- 209.
Funari, V. (Director) (2006). Maquilapolis: City of Factories.
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK2KzIGb44I
Grineski, S., & Collins, T. (2008). Exploring patterns of environmental injustice in the Global South: Maquiladoras in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.Population & Environment, 29(6), 247-270.
Morales, O., Grineski, S. E., & Collins, T. W. (2012). Structural violence and environmental injustice: the case of a US–Mexico border chemical plant.Local Environment, 17(1), 1-21.
Sanchez, S., Estrada, A., & Salas, M. (2013). Transcending Borders: Testimonios of Resistance on the US-Mexico Border. Aztlan, 38(1), 221-234.
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