U.S. INDUSTRIAL FACTORY WORKER (Early 20 th Century) Image from: http://lids.hul.harvard.edu:8080/lids/lids?id=124 5081&buttons=1&caption=Woman+at+spinning +machine

Maquiladoras: All Work and No

Pay

Maquiladoras

This is the term referring to U.S. owned and operated assembly plants in Mexico, and are located very close to the U.S./Mexican border

 Image from: http://www.projecttime.org/imag es/showcases/showcase1-1.ppt

Brief Background of Maquiladoras

These factories have existed in Mexico since the 1960s.

But, with implementing NAFTA in 1994, U.S. and multinational corporations rushed factory operations to Mexico to maximize profits through maquiladoras.

There are over 2,500 maquiladoras along the border.

http://www.uwec.edu/geography/Ivogeler/w1 88/border/mex.gif

Life in the Maquiladora...

 The work force is comprised of female workers who are paid $4-$6 per day to assemble consumer goods which will be exported back to the U.S. and other regions and sold for much higher prices.

 Labor organizers criticize the factory system for the chronic low wages and poor working conditions

The situation in Ciudad Juarez...

In Juarez alone there are 220,000 workers employed in 300 factories.

Since 1993, nearly 300 women have been murdered here.

Many were employed in the Maquiladoras. Many more have been raped, tortured, and over 70 women have “disappeared”.

"Women who are out at night are at risk. It's hard to go out on the street when it's raining and not get wet".

Many of the maquiladora shifts run late into the evening hours, and returning home during this time frame has become extremely dangerous.

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr410262003

Justice for Juarez...

http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/lau nchpack-eng The problem of the maquiladoras continues and the families of the murdered and “disappeared” female maquiladora workers in Ciudad Juarez are still looking for justice. To date, only one person has been charged with one of the killings. Mexican officials have done little to find the killers.

As the problems of industrialization in the early 20 th century in the U.S. brought cries for reform, the voices from Juarez and other maquiladora towns along the border also demand change, as well.