Delegation to Mexico – Reflection, December 2006 by Natalie Gonzalez [Natalie is a second year law student at Northern Illinois University; she attended the delegation to Reynosa, Tamaulipas, October 13-15, 2006]

When I decided to attend the Fall 2006 NIU delegation to Mexico I thought that it would be a good opportunity to learn about how globalization affects working women in another country.  The concept of globalization was fairly new to me and the delegation offered a unique personal perspective of another country’s approach to entering the global economy and how it ultimately affected its citizens. As it turned out, the delegation experience provided me not only with the educational information I desired but also an unexpected lesson on empowerment and courage. The first day that our 12 person delegation arrived in Reynosa, we met with members of a workers’ group known as the CFO, or Comité Fronterizo de Obreras, (CFO) and attended a meeting they had planned with some maquiladora workers. It was early evening and raining lightly when we all filed into a small backyard of one of the workers to meet with about 10 male maquiladora workers at the Emerson factory, which makes motors for large appliances, like washers and dryers.  

The group of workers greeted us warmly but also nervously, probably because they were not sure who we were and what to expect from the meeting with CFO organizers, in which they were all about to take part.  Because of the rain we all moved into the small house where workers shared their stories regarding the mistreatment and injuries they and others received while working at Emerson whose main buyer is Maytag, a well known seller of washing machines to American consumers.  During this meeting, the stories that I had previously read began to seem more than just a report from an article but a reality that I was unable to experience until that moment. As, I looked around the small living room where 30 people or so were congregated, I noticed a picture on the wall of the male worker’s home with his wife; the furniture and toys in the photo told me the couple had a small child. I realized that he was just like any other man in America or the world for that matter trying to provide and care for his family.

Meeting with the CFO, which teaches workers their rights under the law, was both a risk and a chance for this father and husband wanting to improve his opportunities for providing for his family. Little did I know that the drive and courage this man displayed that night by just having that meeting at his home, was a theme I would encounter the entire weekend. On Saturday, the second day of the delegation, we met with another group of workers, also at a private residence. The workers we met at this particular meeting were part of a  group of women who had been fired from their jobs at a factory that produced auto parts because they refused to obey a “closed toe shoe policy” that their employer recently implemented . At first I thought that it was not a serious issue and all they had to do was buy some new shoes and the company would give them their jobs back. However, I was very wrong and it was a more serious issue involving a newly implemented policy being used as a tactic by the company, Delphi Electronics, because if they could fire them for cause the company would be able to avoid paying the severance benefits required by law. These women had not been working since they were discharged in July and had filed a grievance against the company but many of them were getting concerned about the time it was taking for results. These women, like the men we met the night before, seemed worried that they were doing the right thing by meeting with the CFO and by deciding to press their actions against the company, now armed with the information about their rights and possible strategies that the CFO was providing them.

The CFO was making the workers aware of their particular rights concerning this issue and allowing them to decide on further actions they should continue to take. I thought how courageous one would have to be to give up finding another job for three months so they could take a stand against an unfair policy and unfair dismissal.  Even if the policy is wrong at the same time the workers must be scared about whether they would in fact get their jobs back or the severance package they deserved.    But the information provided by the CFO seemed to provide further hope and motivation to pursue the claim before the labor board.  Still these women who had every reason to be scared and unsure about what they had gotten themselves into, smiled at and were friendly toward the unexpected guests who were U.S. citizens and visitors to the border.  I also felt a sense of worry for these women unsure of what would happen to them and whether they would win their claim  against the employer.  I wondered whether some would give up hope and just buy the required shoes and go back to work? Or would some have to look for another job at another maquiladora with the fear of being blacklisted because of their actions at their previous jobs.

Uncertainty plagues us all but very few of us rise to meet it head on as these women were doing. That same day I was also pleased to hear that a maquiladora woman worker, Alejandra, who was in the same position as the women we met with earlier prevailed after two years with other workers in an unfair firing charge against the very same employer.  We had lunch at her home, which had a small outdoor food stand attached which she ran herself in the evenings. She had built this food stand with the money she received from her labor settlement and now was able to support herself and her family. Her story was also inspirational because she was clearly a mother figure that held the other workers together to continue with the suit against their employer. This woman, Doña Alejandra, was able to use her strength and courage that  led others to a victory when she was probably also uncertain of the outcome herself. It was refreshing to hear that progress can be made by a single worker or groups of workers at a time. Although there is much to address along the border with respect to the maquiladora industry and labor rights, disseminating knowledge of one’s rights to the workers does in fact empower them and can push multinational companies to obey the law and secure for workers the compensation they deserve.   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *