WHAT
IS A MAQUILADORA OR WHAT IS A SWEATSHOP?
 
The maquiladora
or “sweatshop” is sadly not new. In the early 1900s?American labor
history documents the treatment of European immigrant
women who toiled
12-15 hour days for the pittance of wages. The infamous fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which produced popular clothing for women of the
leisured class of the day came about because owners forced female laborers to
work overtime against their will in order to meet production deadlines.  They did so by locking all exit doors. One
day a fire broke out and 146 young women lost their lives to a disastrous
tragedy. The inhumanity that describes the sweatshop may no longer describe
most?working conditions on American soil today. Instead, it has been exported
to other countries where multinational corporations can subcontract with
factory owners and managers who often place a higher value on production
deadlines than on the health, safety and well-being of the working poor.
 
WOB, 2001