A Binational Economic And Environmental Detriment

The former includes garments and textiles, footwear, electronics and various other sectors that require a large labour force to produce its goods or services, whereas the latter, includes—but not limited to— the production of chemicals, petroleum and automobiles. Among the many industries mentioned above, garment and textile and the automotive industries predominate in the maquiladoras. In fact, Wilson (1995) states that the automobile industry in its search for cheaper labor in the wake of increasing competition from the Asia market led U.S. companies like Ford, Chrysler and General Motors to significantly increase their investments in the maquiladoras in the 1980s (Wilson, 1995, p. 142). In regards to the garments and textiles, Billes (2003) argues that the movement from the border regions the interior parts was most apparent for firms that produced garments and textiles. Moreover, the search for cheaper labor as wages in the urban and northern border regions were rising led firm to migrate to poorer states like Yucatan (Billes, 2003, p.

Low wages and grueling shifts are only the beginning of the hazardous working conditions that the maquiladora workers are exposed to. Industrial accidents and toxic exposures are common in the plants. Often workers are not given adequate training or provided with safety equipment. Physical risks such as noise, heat, vibrations, poor ventilation, and awkward posture have a high occurrence in maquiladoras. "More and more, we are being forced to comply with extreme production quotas. Then they don't provide us with glasses and masks to protect our eyes and throats from the dust. In addition, some managers and supervisors harass us sexually. They try to intimidate men and women who protest against these conditions," said Paty Leyva, a worker at Corrizo manufacturing, a Mexican subtractor for the U.S. apparel industry (Fair). Paty was one of four maquiladora workers who met with members of Congress to reveal the conditions of their workplace.

A maquiladora is a manufacturing plant based in Mexico where foreign companies import materials and equipment, on a duty free and tariff free basis, for the purposes of processing, manufacturing, or assembling goods which are then exported to other countries. The idea behind these maquiladoras promises a prosperous Mexican society. On paper, it really does seem like NAFTA is living up to expectations; creation of more jobs and a much less unemployment rate. On the surface, there seems to be nothing wrong with what’s going on in Mexico in terms of employment. Everyone has jobs and everyone is getting paid for these jobs, so what’s the issue? Despite all of this, the degrading and terrible working conditions imposed upon the maquiladora workers

Maquiladoras are assembly plants clustered mostly in northern Mexico, along the U.S. border. The factories employ 17 percent of the Mexican work force, this makes maquiladoras Mexico’s second largest source of jobs but some people would say that the negatives weight over the positives. Some negatives about this situation are that how the Mexican government does not have full control of the factories, how the employees have to work in harsh conditions and, the employees get paid a low wage. Maquiladoras have both a positive and negative effect on the Mexican economy because of the poor work conditions, however the large numbers of the population they employ cannot be ignored.

The first elements Zuloaga points out is that “the protection of the Mexican cultural industry never came up”. (Zuolaga,2001) Indeed, the NAFTA agreements made between major world powers, it is expected that many will question the validity of these agreements on an equality scale for Mexico, known as a weak country on many levels.

Companies in the 1960’s realized that they could lower labor costs by moving plants to other countries with lower minimum wage than here in the united states. These assembly plants just south of the Us-Mexico boarder are called maquiladoras. These plants didn't just allow for labor costs to be lowered but also duty-free production, only rule was the goods must be exported out of Mexico. The maquiladoras also gave much needed jobs to the Mexican workers. The first few years of the new millennium many of these maquiladoras went out of business, due to lower wages in countries such as China and Guatemala. Since 2004, we have seen a rise in the number of maquiladoras on the Mexican boarder. We are seeing this increase because of high value products

313). A maquiladora is a Mexican Corporation located in central Mexico or the US/Mexico border that receives imported goods such as machinery and electronics to assemble in factories by workers. These imported goods are then exported back to the United States in addition to other countries. Women are preferred to work in maquiladoras as they are less likely to report workplace abuse, have little to no education, and own no phone or car (Navarro 2). In maquiladoras, these women are exposed to unsafe equipment, poorly designed workstations, extreme varied weather, and poor lighting among other issues (Abell 597). As a result, they suffer from a myriad of health problems as well as poor reproductive

maquiladoras were required to locate within 20 miles of an international border or coastline, but to this day the regulation of the maquiladora industries have change a tremendous amount.. In 2000, 57% of the adult population lived in the capital region, in which Mexico City is located, or in surrounding central states. During the 1990s, the share of the population in the border region, in which most maquiladoras are located, rose slightly from 17% to 18%. This small increase in the border population is remarkable, given the dramatic growth in maquiladora employment and in the population of large cities, such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, that occurred in the region. Border employment has grown primarily through firms attracting workers from

In order for an individual to understand how this cooperative situation came to be, one must understand the origins and meaning behind the maquiladoras. According to Leslie Sklair’s, president of the Global Studies Association and International Advisory Board with a PhD in sociology, monograph series; In 1942, the United States was in need of workers due to its lack of men, since many of them were fighting in World War 2. The United States and Mexico came into an agreement to cooperate, hence the Bracero program came to be. This program allowed Mexico to send workers to alleviate the shortage of labor in the U.S. Throughout history, the need for workers decreased and the U.S had no need for them, so they began to plan new sources for work. As a result, the Mexican government instated the Border Industrialization Program, which later became known as the Maquiladora program. The maquiladoras, are maquila industries that began to appear in the mid-1960, which were typically located in Mexico’s side of the border, such as Baja

When faced with inexplicable working conditions, one’s first consideration would be to quit their job and to find a new one. In the case of the factory workers at Hacienda Tijuana, a Mexican tortilla factory, that is certainly not the case. Throughout this article, there are many issues that are presented to the reader. This essay is structured to examine three of the main issues. It begins by looking at the exploitation of the women and their lack of rights as workers in the factory. It examines the analytical framework that would be most appropriate for this situation and then progresses to relate many sociological theories to this issue. Next, it examines the mostly negative effects of globalization, modernization and industrialization.

The maquiladora workers provide a story about globalization that is often obscured by barriers like oceans, borders, or even physical walls. This side of the story is often not highlighted by the supporters of neoliberal globalization in the way that the pledged benefits are. The people who know this side are usually the ones living and dealing with the some of the so called “dangers” that globalization has made a reality. Cynthia Enloe and Alison Jaggar both offer counter narratives about globalization that focus on the negative aspects that come out of globalization as it currently stands. But unlike the two authors’ accounts, “Maquilapolis” takes the telling of a counter narrative a step further by having the story come straight from those who are living it. The counter narrative that is told in the film was created by the filmmakers and the women featured in “Maquilapolis”. The film gives the workers a platform that is often not offered to them. The lives of the women featured in the film, which are heavily influenced by globalization, are far from the ideal that globalization promises. Although the workers either benefit or once benefitted from the higher wages they made working in the factories, the damages more often outweighed the benefits. Magdalena Cerda from the Environmental Health Coalition expands on this point by asserting that along with the capital from the company “comes the impact on the environment and on people's health” (“Maquilapolis”, 30:00-30:07). In the next section, we look directly at the negative environmental and health effects that have come with globalization and free trade as expressed in the film

The border region has seen “rapid transformation in a short span of time, changing from a cattle ranching and mining area that attracted U.S., Mexican and European capitalists…to the center of a lucrative vice and pleasure-based tourist industry, to a region that …attracted an extraordinary amount of international capital to its manufacturing and services sector”. (Ganster/Lorey 2) Events and years such as the implementation of the railroad, the years before the Mexican Revolution, the land reform in 1936 and 1937, the implementation of the maquiladora program and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has had a significant impact on the U.S. Mexican Borderlands.

As a major contributor to the global economy, Mexico’s sweatshops have contributed to the United States’ wealth and economic growth. It is the unfortunate truth that many individual workers have suffered as a result of this prosperity. The sweatshops, known as maquiladoras, are in debate because of the ethical and lawful reasoning behind their existence and conditions. How can we, as a First-world nation, allow such industries to exist where people are denied basic and fundamental human rights? What, if any, laws and regulations are put into place for the maquiladoras? Are these laws and regulations hindering, harmful, or helpful? Are they enforced emphatically? If not, how does this affect development? After

The consequence of this process was that there was a lopsided development process in North America. The increasing capital mobility and the investments in the United States in the South of the Border were met with repressive efforts limiting the cross-border movements of the Mexicans. However, despite this limitation in mobility the establishment of NAFTA had led to an increase in the number of Mexicans seeking employment in the United States. The signing of the treaty also saw collective firms under neoliberalism in Mexico being privatized and the elimination of agricultural subsidies. This move increased the number of peasants who went out to seek opportunities elsewhere. The emigration pressures and the restrictive border policies affected the processes and patterns of Mexico-US migration (Douglas & Patricia, 3).

The American Outsourcing Case is a compilation of factual information for the purpose of provoking debates. The authors present both the pros and cons of outsourcing, and avoid inserting their personal bias. The case clearly defines outsourcing and then focuses on outlining its existence in China, Mexico, and India. The evolution and U.S. involvement in the Maquiladoras of Mexico is described first. The implementation of NAFTA and the creation of Maquiladoras were major catalysts in the growth of free trade between the U.S. and Mexico. China, in an attempt to attract foreign investors, created Special Economic Areas, which designated geographic zones that were enabled to operate under their own laws. With great tax benefits