Human rights violations in the Maquiladora Industry

Maquiladoras, factories re-located from the US, Europe and Asia, abuse workers and deteriorate the environment of the region. Mostly women, maquiladora workers are forced to accept poverty wages, long journeys to work, and, many times, extremely hazardous working conditions. About 150,000 workers are employed by the maquiladora industry in Tijuana. Workers in more than 700 hundred factories produce everything from televisions to Barbies, with electronics, auto parts and medical devices as the major industries.

El Centro de Información para Trabajadoras y Trabajadores, Cittac (Information Center for Working Women and Men) is a non-governmental organization that promotes, publicizes, supports and accompanies workers' struggles -especially within the maquiladora industry- to improve their labor and living conditions, defend their human rights (especially those related to labor and gender), and create autonomous and democratic organizations. After 15 years of operation, Cittac has accumulated much experience and knowledge about workers' living and working conditions and about their struggle against degrading conditions.

I will present Cittac's experiences, emphasizing the unhealthy and unsafe conditions in some maquiladoras and how their operation violates the Mexican labor laws and workers' human rights. Workers' resistance against maquiladoras will also be addressed.