Maquiladoras_in_Mexico

The Mexican maquiladora is a major source of growth and foreign investment in the Mexican economy. Therefore, the maquiladora industry influences the country’s migration patterns of workers in search of better employment opportunities. Faced with fewer opportunities in the rural economy, Mexican workers have emigrated to urban areas and to the U.S. Over the last 100 years, Mexico has experienced a transition from a rural to an urban economy. Consistent with that trend, nowadays less than 23 percent of the population lives in rural areas. With NAFTA, the urban-rural migration flow increased even more rapidly. The trade agreement effectively eliminated all trade barriers and placed Mexico’s domestically produced corn in direct competition with highly subsidized corn imported from the United States. Consequently, Mexican corn farmers, who comprise the majority of the country’s agricultural sector, experienced drastic declines in the domestic price of their product and thus faced increasing difficulties to attain a sustainable living. Hence, high levels of migration into Mexico’s cities in the latter half of the 1990’s, and the beginning of the 21st century were observed, as these displaced farmers and rural workers abandoned their previous livelihood in search of employment. Due to the high overflow of people looking for jobs in the industrial sector and the constant competition the maquiladoras face from other countries where labor is cheap, the wages of the maquiladoras’ employees are kept low and the working conditions are not safe. In general, the income of Mexican workers has lost 76 percent of its purchasing power over the past two decades. “The government estimates that 40 million people live in poverty, with 25 million in extreme poverty.” A 2001 study by the Center for Reflection, Education, and Action presents an illustrative example of this disparity in purchasing power. The study found that “it took a maquiladora worker in Juárez almost an hour to earn enough money to buy a kilo...of rice.” A maquiladora worker in Tijuana needed an hour and a half to earn enough for that same purchase. By comparison, a dockworker in the San Pedro harbor, south of Los Angeles, earned enough to buy the rice after only three minutes of work. In addition to that, the maquila industry has been accused of discriminating against child-bearing-aged women to keep costs down, because Mexico’s labor laws contain extensive maternity requirements. They often demand pregnancy tests as a prerequisite to employment or insist that female workers use birth control. If a woman is found to be pregnant, it may likely hinder her chances of getting hired, and if an existing worker becomes pregnant, she may be terminated. Given the competition with countries like China, where labor is even cheaper, the wages and expenses have to be kept as low as possible in order to keep competing in the global market. In addition, due to the high demand of jobs in the maquiladoras not just by the locals but also by people who migrate from other states of the country it is easy to keep the wages down and replace any worker, thus, workers do not have much choice but to adapt to the strict requirements of the workplace and the low wages or migrate to the United States. On top of hazardous working conditions, the presence of the maquiladoras combined with loosely enforced Mexican environmental laws and a lack of suitable waste storage and treatment facilities, cause the border area to be among the most polluted in Mexico. Even though NAFTA recognizes the need to prevent "pollution havens" in Mexico and to increase Mexico's capacity to track and handle hazardous wastes and added environmental provisions to support La Paz Agreement in order to reduce hazardous waste dumping, little progress has been done. Even when factories are shut down because of environmental violations, the enforcement of the laws is still lacking. One example is the case of Metales y Derivados, a lead-smelting facility in Tijuana, was shut down in 1994 when its owners failed to comply with toxic waste disposal laws. However, the waste was never properly treated and/or relocated and is currently leaking through its containers, seeping into the ground, and contaminating community’s water supply. Despite the law requires the toxic waste created by foreign companies to be returned to the country of origin or be properly managed only about 12 percent of the hazardous waste generated in Mexico given proper treatment. Recent figures indicate that only around 25-30 percent of maquiladoras return their toxic waste back to their countries. This ongoing exposure to toxic wastes can contribute to health problems such as cancer, skin disease, hepatitis, and birth defects. Furthermore, Mexico does not have laws requiring industries to publicize basic environmental data on their operations, which makes it harder to keep an accurate inventory of hazardous waste. In order to address the lack of law enforcement and other environmental issues the Plan Border 2012 was introduced in 2002. This plan has had some positive impact in the U.S – Mexico border, however it still lacks management oversight regarding program progress towards meeting goals and objectives. For example, supporting documentation regarding program accomplishments was not obtained or reviewed by Border 2012 staff. Furthermore, the current performance measures focused on outputs rather than outcomes; several of the performance measures were not assessable. As the Agency is unable to assess the environmental and health benefits actually achieved. Thus, in order to address the weaknesses of the program, Border 2012 should be extended and strengthened with a new strategic plan that aims to achieve the goals established since the founding of it. The plan should include a national set of goals, objectives, and measures. In addition, it should include a description of how each component of the Border 2012 Program extension, including grants, collaborations, and partnerships, directly contributes to program outcomes. This way, the lack of management and proper documentation will be addressed, making the program more effective into achieving its goals of improving the environment in the border area.