msn tehuacan summary 2010 12

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Tehuacansgarment industryin times of crisisMaquila Solidarity Network andRodrigo Santiago Hernandez

December 2010


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In 2003, the Maquila Solidarity Network and the Human and Labour Rights Commission of Tehuacan Valley produced reportsin English and Spanish on worker rights in the garment industry in Tehuacan in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The global economic situation and other factors in Mexico have contributed to signifi-cant change in the industry since the report came out in early 2003. In 2010, Rodrigo Santiago Hernandez, one of the authorsof the original Spanish report, produced an update. The follow-ing is MSNs summary and analysis of his research findings. 1

Tehuacan, the second-largest city in the south-central stateof Puebla, has a 40-year history of garment production. Foryears it competed with Torreon, Coahuila, as Mexicos jeancapital and was conisdered one of the largest denim-producing

centres in the world. Despite a decline in the garment industry inthe Tehuacan region over the last ten years, the industry remainsthe economic motor of the region, accounting for at least 50% of the Tehuacan economy. 2 Jeans continue to be the dominantproduct although uniforms for both export and the nationalmarket are also prominent as well as non-denim pants, shorts, t-shirts, and childrens footwear.

OVERALLTRENDS

OVER THE LAST DECADE THE GARment industry in and around Tehua-can has gone through a dramatictransition. There has been a signifi-cant drop in the number of registeredmanufacturing facilities and of gar-ment workers employed. At the sametime, the percentage of productiontaking place in informal workshopsand homes seems to be increasing.

As significant as the changes inthe industry itself, is the dramatic de-crease in production for major inter-

national brands, which seems to havebeen replaced to some degree byproduction for national brands andthe national market.

One new phenomenon is the es-tablishment of small workshops bymanagement personnel previouslyemployed by large and medium sized

factories, as well as by workers whohave been laid off or dismissed fromlarger factories. Workers use their sev-

erance pay and/or machinery givenas part of their severance package (ormoney earned in the United States)to set up unregulated facilities. Unfor-tunately, labour conditions are often

as bad or worse than those in theirformer workplaces.

The combined effects of the 2001US economic downturn, global re-structuring in the garment industryfollowing the 2005 final phase-out of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) 3

and the 2009 global economic crisis,have severely weakened Tehucansgarment industry and made moreprecarious the living and workingconditions in which workers andtheir families find themselves. Unfor-tunately, the state of the industry,and with it the well-being of Tehua-can workers, continues to be de-pendent on the fluctuations of the

US economy.

Implications for workers The changes of the past decade haveresulted in increasingly precarious


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conditions of employment for gar-ment workers, including a move toshort-term employment contracts,greater job insecurity and a decline inreal wages. Workers live in constantfear that they will lose their jobs. Manynow work on short-term contracts orwith no contracts at all which con-travenes the spirit (if not the letter) of Mexicos Federal Labour Law. 4

According to Santiago 2010 re-search, workers are currently less will-ing to file complaints with the LocalConciliation and Arbitration Boardwhen labour rights violations takeplace. With little or no severance tolook forward to, workers are morelikely to shift from one workplace toanother at the end of the contract or

when there is a problem. The com-plaints workers do file tend to be

about their employers failure to paythe full December holiday bonus(aguinaldo) or to provide accurateprofit sharing payments in May of theyear. Some employers close their fac-tories in December in order to avoidpaying the holiday bonus. Filing com-plaints regarding other violations,such as ongoing harassment at work or the employers failure to providebenefits that should accrue based onseniority dont make sense in thisnew context.

Since the closure of VaquerosNavarra (VN) in January 2008 5, work-ers are less willing to organize to de-fend their rights than previously. Thelesson from the VN closing was loudand clear: those that control the in-

dustry in Tehuacan will close a factoryand lose brand orders rather than

allow an independent union to be es-tablished. A second lesson was thattrouble makers will be punished. VNworkers were the targets of blacklist-ing, 6 which effectively prohibitedthem from working in registered(large and medium-sized) factories. Those that have secured work areamong the growing number of work-ers labouring in unregistered clandes-tine workshops.

The lack of political will on thepart of state and municipal govern-ment officials to enforce existing reg-ulations let alone improve labourconditions only contributes to work-ers vulnerability and the impunitywith which employers can violateworkers rights.

THE STATE OFTHE INDUSTRY

IT IS NOT EASY TO OBTAIN AN ACCUrate picture of the garment industryand the garment manufacturing work-force in the Tehuacan region (the city

of Tehuacan and surrounding area).Government and industry statistics arenotoriously inaccurate and unverifi-able, and tend not to include data oninformal and clandestine garmentworkshops. To add to the problem, thecurrent PRI state administration 7

stopped making public its industrydata in 2008 and has not carried out aproper census since then.

In addition, the structure of the in-dustry, and particularly the increasingnumber of clandestine workshops

and homework, makes it almost im-possible to obtain reliable statistics.

As a result, estimates on the size of the workforce and the number of fa-cilities vary widely depending onwhich organization or governmentdepartment is being quoted andwhat data they are relying on for theirestimates.

How many manufacturing facilities?Regional representatives of twomajor industry associations reportdifferent figures on the number of

manufacturing facilities in the region.In June of 2009, the most critical yearof the current economic recession interms of its impact on this sector, the Tehuacan representative of the na-tional apparel industry association,CANAIVES, reported that there were110 factories affiliated with both theirassociation and CANACINTRA.8 At thesame time, and for the same time pe-riod, CANACINTRA, an association of medium and small businesses, includ-ing maquilas, reported that there

were 400 factories in the region, half of them clandestine (which of coursewould not be registered with either of the two associations).

By contrast, Santiago estimatesthat in the Tehuacan region there arecurrently about 980 garment manu-facturing facilities, including 98 large,365 medium, and over 500 small clan-

destine facilities. In its 2003 report,the Commission estimated that therewere 700 garment manufacturing fa-cilities, including all sizes of facilities.

However, the increased number of manufacturing facilities does not nec-essarily imply an increase in overallvolume of garment production or inthe number of workers employed,given that small clandestine facilitiesaccount for over half of Santiago esti-mate.

Who dominates the industry?In 2003, Tehuacan was dominated byfour large industry consortia Grupo Navarra, Mazarra, Tarrant Ap-parel Group and AZT International controlled by two Mexican familiesthat were part of the local elite, aswell as one Los Angeles-based family. That situation has changed quite dra-matically.

Although Grupo Navarra has re-structured, it continues to be a majorplayer in the industry. The consortium


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now includes Mazara, which althoughowned by members of the same fam-ily was considered a separate consor-tium in 2003. Grupo Navarra currentlyhas 11 plants, 9 including two laundryfacilities. According to Santiago, of allthe garment manufacturers in the Tehuacan region, Grupo Navarra hasthe strongest connection to interna-tional brands.

Tarrant Apparel Group closeddown all of its plants in 2005, includ-ing the eight located in Tehuacan andthe surrounding area, one in city of Puebla, one in Tlaxcala, a neighbour-ing state, and one each in the statesof Oaxaca and Guerrero.

AZT International continues to op-erate the same large sewing facility

that bears the companys name,which includes a laundry. The facilityemploys approximately 1,200 workers.

Other large facilities operate inde-pendently and are neither part of consortia nor of larger productionnetworks.

What brands are present?International brands are much less vis-ible in the Tehuacan region todaythan they were a decade ago, whenmedia and industry press were herald-

ing Tehuacan as Mexicos jean capital.According to workers interviewed

for this study, the brands currentlysourcing from Tehuacan includeGuess, Tommy Hilfiger, Express, CalvinKlein, Paris Blues and American EagleOutfitters (AEO). Workers also reportproduction for Wal-Mart, including insmall and clandestine facilities, al-though it is not clear whether thatproduction is for the international ornational market. In 2003, the list of in-ternational brands also included Gap,Inc., Levis, Wrangler (VF Corporation),Polo Ralph Lauren and Armani.

International brands are most visi-ble in large and to a lesser extent inthe medium-size factories. Howeverproducts bearing international brandlabels also show up in the small sub-contract facilities where worker rightsabuses are more common. It is not

clear whether the products are gen-uine or counterfeit ( pirata ) or, if theyare genuine, whether the brands areaware that their products are beingmade in these facilities.

Production of national brand-name products for the local and na-

tional markets has increased. Amongthe more well-known national brandsare Furor and Britos.

How many workers?In its 2003 report, the Commission es-timated that there were about 45,000garment jobs in Tehuacan and thesurrounding valley as of May of 2002,down from 70,000 in October 2001.Santiago estimates that in May of 2010 there were approximately38,000 workers employed in the gar-

ment sector, 20,000 in formal regis-tered facilities and an additional18,000 employed in clandestineworkshops that do not register theirworkers with IMSS (the governmentsocial security program) or other gov-ernment programs.

The reduction in the number of workers registered with IMSS is dra-

matic. For example, in2001, 62,200 workers inthe Tehuacan area wereregistered with IMSS; by2009 the number haddropped to just 8,200workers. This would sug-gest that a significantpercentage of the work-force is being deniedhealth care and otherlegal benefits.

Another changehighlighted in the 2010research is that on aver-age workers tend to beyounger than they werein 2003. Santiago notesthat currently more and

more teenagers areseeking employment infactories, choosing todrop out of school inorder to begin earning

an income. Previously the workforcewas comprised primarily of sole-sup-port mothers.

What happened toMexicos jean capital?Despite the problem with availabledata, it seems that approximately

32,000 jobs have been lost in the gar-ment industry in the Tehuacan Valleyin less than a decade. The most dra-matic loss took place in the firstround of restructuring between 2001and 2002 when an estimated 25,000 jobs were lost. In the recent round of restructuring, another 7,000 jobshave disappeared.

Along with the loss in jobs, othersignificant trends in the last few yearsseem to be:

declining presence of interna-tional brands;

increased production for the na-tional market;

less stringent labour rights stan-dards; and

increased reliance on small clan-destine factories, workshops andhome-based facilities.


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A new production model?Many workers in Tehuacans garmentindustry are compelled to work moreintensive and longer workdays thanpreviously, and are often not paid forthe overtime hours worked. Given thehigh rate of unemployment (includ-ing hundreds of former migrant work-ers who have had to return from theUnited States due to effects of the re-cession there), workers have nochoice but to accept these conditions.

In the larger factories, assemblyline production in which each workercarries out sequential, repetitive taskscontinues to be the dominant model. Two exceptions are Top Jeans, part of Grupo Navara, and Eslava, 10 whichmanufactures for Guess, both of

which reportedly use the modularsystem, where workers work in teamsrather than on assembly lines and aretrained in more than one operation.

In the large- and medium-size fac-tories there seems to be a trend to-ward having fewer workers do thesame amount of work, and in havingworkers carry out multiple functions.A typical assembly line now uses 80to 100 workers in marked contrastto 2002, when the same assembly lineoperated with between 150 and 200workers.

Although the partial economic re-covery has led to an increase in or-ders, owners continue to economizeby maintaining the smaller number of workers on a line. Companies havealso eliminated certain job categories,such as bulteros , that formerly pro-vided support by moving bundles of materials and finished product to and

from the line workers. This adds tothe pressure workers face to meetproduction quotas.

Medium-size factories and clan-destine workshopsare now requiringworkers to carry outmultiple tasks, butwithout extra train-ing or higher com-pensation thatusually accompa-nies modular pro-

duction.Increasingly,

medium-size facto-ries and clandestineworkshops are in-volved in produc-tion of morecomplex productsincluding embell-ished styles (calledmodelaje in Tehua-can) for the nationalmarket. These re-quire up to 250 dif-ferent operations fora pair of jeans (com-pared with a typical40-60 sewing opera-tions for a basic pairof jeans). This work is done almost ex-clusively by women.

These additional operations werefirst introduced in the large facilitiesto produce embellished jeans for ex-port, but have now moved to thesmaller workshops, as have newproduct types. Embellished productsmanufactured in Tehuacan now in-clude a variety of clothing styles thatare increasingly demanded on the na-tional market.

The additional steps and detail re-quired for the manufacturing of thesestyles contributes to the excessiveworking hours. Despite the extrapressure, workers sometime preferthis work precisely because they canearn extra money because they re-ceive a higher piece rate. As a result,workers are willing to work additional

hours and endure more harassmentand pressure from supervisors.

Large factories The large garment factories in the Tehuacan area manufacture jeans ex-clusively, and produce mostly for in-ternational brands or for some of themore recognized, prestigious domes-tic brands. Some provide full packageservices while others work as part of larger consortia that provide thoseservices through a production net-

work that can span various states. These factories generally comply withlegal requirements, including salaryand monetary benefit obligationsand minimal health and safety stan-dards, are affiliated with the industryassociations (Cmaras ), and registertheir workers with Hacienda (theMexican tax authority) and IMSS (gov-ernment social security program).Most have signed protection con-tracts 11 with official unions.

Medium-size factoriesProducing primarily denim jeans butalso other products, medium-sizedgarment factories often carry outwork subcontracted to them by largefactories when the latter cannot com-plete their orders or meet order dead-lines. Some have direct contracts withboth international and national buy-


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ers. Some have their own laundrieswhile others send their products tothe laundries of the larger factories.At present, production is primarily forthe national market. Workers in thesefactories tend not to be registeredwith IMSS, and production of coun-terfeit apparel or piratera is wide-spread. Workers are generally notprovided with employment contractsand conditions are more precariousthan in the large factories.

Small factories and clandestineworkshopsJeans and other articles of clothingare also sewn in small factories andworkshops, where the daily volume ismuch lower than in medium-sized fa-cilities. Often work is subcontractedto these factories/workshops bymedium-size facilities which manu-facture for the national and local mar-kets. Production of counterfeitproducts is common.

These facilities are for the mostpart unregulated (and almost alwaysunregistered) and are usually set upin non-traditional locations (patios in-side private homes, for example) thatare adapted and equipped with ma-chinery. Production lines usually in-volve 15 20 workers, working invery cramped quarters, with little

light and/or ventilation, and inade-quate electrical hook-ups. In manycases these workshops were formerlyhomes which have been adapted tofactory work.

Workers receive low pay, no bene-fits and dont receive special trainingneeded to take on the range of tasksthey may be required to assume. Twelve-hour work days are common.

In an interview with the supervisorof a workshop employing 25 workers,the supervisor reported that theowner, who previously owned amedium-size factory, has set up threesuch workshops because its cheaperto operate without having to pay ei-ther taxes or benefits. They hire ex-su-pervisors to manage the workshops,organize work, and pressure and paythe workers. The supervi-sors have aproductionquota theyhave to meetin order to getpaid.

As notedabove, in somecases, workersformerly em-ployed in largefactories use

their severance pay to establish theirown clandestine workshops. Accord-ing to garment workers interviewed,serious and frequent labour rights vio-lations take place in these workplacesas well. Former supervisors have alsobeen known to engage in this prac-tice, imposing the same harsh work-ing conditions that were present intheir former workplaces. In all cases,subcontract facilities like these havelow profit margins and, as a result,offer worse wages and working condi-tions to their employees.

These workshops are beginningto set production quotas ( metas ),similar to large and medium facto-ries. The pressure on workers to reachtheir quotas is intense, with produc-

tion being calculated every twohours. If workers dont meet theirquota by the end of the day, theymust stay until they complete it,without being paid anything for theextra hours they work.

Workers interviewed describedlong workdays, the lack of social secu-rity, harassment and poverty wages.As a result theres a lot of rotation andamong workshops with young work-ers moving from one make-shiftworkshop to another.

Homework According to most sources, home-based and clandestine workshopsnow account for more than half of allproduction in the Tehuacan area, adramatic increase from earlier peri-ods. In recent years and particularly


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since the beginning of the economiccrisis, more employers have beenmoving many operations out of fac-tories and into homes in order to cutcosts, evade taxes and avoid havingto register workers with IMSS. Often-times workers have to pick up thematerial and deliver products back toa central location.

Home-based facilities are usuallyused for the operations that are doneby hand (sewing tags or finishing

processes such as removing threadsfrom apparel). In this current period,additional operations are being donein homes, including cutting excessfabric from the garment (refilado), at-taching rivets (remaches metlicos)and making button-holes. The lasttwo processes are done with specialmachines provided on loan by theirsupervisor or employer.

These workplaces do not complywith any regulations, and the factoryowners that subcontract to them areable to avoid any liability regardingtheir employees, such as for healthand safety. Child labour is commonand appears to have increased, for ex-ample with children helping theirmothers by removing the threadsfrom apparel. The production of coun-terfeit apparel is common.

Laundries and tonelos The larger laundries are often ownedby the major jean manufacturing com-panies or are part of full-package pro-duction networks and produce forinternational and major domesticbrands. Services of small- and medium-size laundries are also sub-contractedby other factories, mostly producingfor the domestic market. Jobs in thelaundries are the highest-paid butmost dangerous jobs in the industry,

often employing young men.Laundries, where jeans are

washed and softened, are major usersand polluters of the water supply, andonly one laundry ( Cualquier Lavado ) issaid to have a proper water treatmentplant. Of note, sand-blasting, whichuntil recently was also carried out inthe laundries, seems to be no longertaking place and has been replacedby a hand sand process carried outin tonelos . Sandblasting involves theblasting of sand onto denim prod-ucts using high pressure air compres-sors to bleach and batter the denim. 12

Tonelos are small, often clandes-tine, finishing workshops wherechemicals such as potassium perman-ganate 13 are applied to jeans as addi-tional ways to bleach them or makethem look worn. Hand sanding 14 is

now also carried out in these work-shops. Workers (often young men)manually or mechanically rub sand-paper on jeans to achieve a wornlook. Workers report that chronicshoulder pain is common as a resultof the intense and repetitive motionsrequired for this process.

Some tonelos are registered withthe state, but most are not. The vastmajority of laundries and tonelos donot comply with health and safetynorms, and workers are regularly ex-

posed to toxic chemicals and sufferfrom repetitive strain injuries.


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KEY ISSUESFOR WORKERS

Poverty wagesWorkers identify low wages as themost serious problem they face.

Wages have always been low, butover the last years they have not keptup with cost of living increases, withthe result that real wages are lowertoday than in 2002.

An average sewing machine oper-ator in the large and medium-sizedfactories, for example, earns a weeklywage of 675 pesos. Santiago esti-mates that it takes 1,560 pesosweekly to meet the basic needs of afamily of 2-3 school-aged children,which means that the average salaryis enough to meet only about half of a familys basic expenses includingrent, utilities, food, personal hygieneproducts, and transportation.

The base salary is regularly re-duced in numerous ways. For exam-ple, workers report illegal andarbitrary deductions from their pay(such as deductions for cell phoneuse or for going to the medical centreduring working hours or for arriving afew minutes late for work). Some re-

ported deductions of between 50and 100 pesos for arriving 10 minuteslate or up to two or three days wagesfor missing one day. Many workers re-port not being paid properly for over-time, or not being paid at all for

overtime worked. Payment for statu-tory holidays is rare.

As a result of these low wages, the

majority of garment workers live invery precarious conditions. Many livein newly settled zones on the edge of the city with no utilities, potable wateror access to public services. Often theland on which these communities sitwas informally purchased by scamartists who then re-sold their lands toseveral buyers, leaving workers em-broiled in complicated legal disputes.

The economic crisis has forcedworkers to increasingly rely on loansfrom credit and loan establishments,which have increased their presencein the region and are notorious forusing threatening and illegal prac-tices to pressure workers to pay. Manyof these credit and loan businessesare not regulated by the state or fed-eral governments, and there havebeen cases of massive fraud.

Long working hours The economic crisis has resulted inmore pressure on workers to accept

having to work overtime when or-ders need to be finished, includingworking all night. Rarely are workerspaid at the premium overtime raterequired by law. The reduction in theworkforce, along with the increase

in multi-functionpositionsand theincreasedproduc-tion of

embell-ishedpieces,requiringmanymoreproduc-tionsteps, is

resulting in longer workdays atlower wages.

Garment workers are often des-

perate to work overtime hours ortake on additional work outside thefactory in order to augment their in-come. Workers report often takingwork home after normal workinghours or taking on additional work in the informal economy to makeends meet.

Short-term employment contractsMost medium-size and small factoriesand workshops do not provide theirworkers with individual employmentcontracts. Workers terms of employ-ment are subject to the whims of their employer.

Where workers do receive their in-dividual employment contracts, thereis a trend towards the use of short-term (1-3 month) contracts, instead of indefinite term contracts as was morecommon in the past. As noted above,the Federal Labour Law only allowsthe use of short-term contracts underspecific circumstances. Some work-

ers interviewed that were employedin larger factories reported havingone-year contracts, which Santiagobelieves is a result of pressure fromsome international brands.

The vast majority of workers in Tehuacan are working without em-ployment contracts or on short-termcontracts. As a result, workers increas-ingly rotate from factory to factory orwork for the same employer on suc-cessive short-term contracts, thusnever accruing seniority that would

allow them to exercise rights or utilizelegal benefits available to permanentemployees.

The practice of hiring young work-ers on a short-term contract basis re-sults in workers being less likely toorganize around workplace griev-ances due to the brief amount of timethey spend with any one employer.


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This practice also denies them theirlegal benefits, such as health cover-age through IMSS.

None of the workers interviewedreported having been given a copy of their employment contract. Someworkers reported being forced to signblank pages prior to their hiringwhich can later be used on forgedresignation letters if the factory wantsto get rid of them.

Lack of access to health careAs noted above, there has been a sig-nificant decrease in the number of workers registered with IMSS (62,200in 2001 to 8,200 in 2009). Failure toregister workers with the governmentsocial security program is particularlycommon in medium-size and smallfactories and workshops. With fewerworkers affiliated with IMSS, Tehua-can garment workers are not receiv-ing the basic benefits guaranteed tothem under Mexican law.

Benefits may be denied in IMSS-registered workplaces as well. An in-creasingly common situation is thatwhen an accident occurs in an IMSS-registered workplace, employersavoid Social Security fines by takingtheir workers to private doctors. Em-ployers may also report fewer work-ers than they actually employ.

Health risksIn June 2010, Santiago interviewedDr. Claudia Ramrez P., a generalpractitioner whose clients are mostlymaquila workers. Dr. Ramirez re-ported seeing a wide range of healthproblems in her patients. Respiratoryillnesses including asthma (particu-larly in young women working with-out protective face masks),bronchitis, sinusitis, chronic coughand eyestrain are the most commoncomplaints. She also saw cases of uri-

nary, kidney and stomach infections,muscle and joint problems, and armand back pain. The doctor also re-ported cases of malnutrition due topoor diets, which could be related to

workers low wages. Because of theirlong workdays, low salaries and lack of access to IMSS, workers often donot seek medical care when it isneeded, and rarely can afford ade-quate medication.

The prevalence of 10-12 hourworking days and of more workersdoing a wider range of tasks creates agreater risk of accidents on the job.Clandestine workshops, which do notcomply with even basic health andsafety standards, may place between10 and 50 workers in a small spacewith little light and poor ventilation. These workshops may also have un-safe electrical connections and littlespace between machines. Workersemployed in laundries and tonelos

carrying out various other finishingprocesses are often times exposed todangerous toxic substances.

Women workers face additionalchallenges The majority of garment workers inthe Tehuacan area are women. Infact, women make up a higher per-centage of the manufacturing work-force in the state of Puebla than thenational average. The workers inter-viewed for this study reported fre-

quent sexual harassment anddiscrimination, especially in the sub-contract and clandestine facilities. Though there were no reports of pregnancy testing, worker testi-


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monies revealed that pregnantwomen are routinely denied employ-ment and/or fired on some pretext orpressured to voluntarily resign whenthey become pregnant.

The economic crisis has alsopushed many women workers to takeout loans to pay for medical expenses,their childrens education and/orother unanticipated expenses, whichhas made them more willing to work long hours and in dangerous and pre-carious conditions in order to payback their loans. Often, women willtake out loans from other establish-ments to pay their pre-existing debts,creating a cycle of dependency.

Child labour

Child labour continues to be alive andwell in Tehuacan, as reported bymedia recently and confirmedthrough worker interviews and directobservation. For the most part, childlabour is concentrated in the smallerclandestine factories or workshops orin home-based facilities where chil-

dren assist their moth-ers in their tasks. Thechildren working athome may be as youngas five years old. Therehave been reports of child labour in the largeand medium-size, moreregulated factories,mostly involving chil-dren who used falsifieddocuments to gain em-ployment, which man-agement may or maynot have been aware of.With the trend to ayounger workforce, San-tiago estimates that upto 40% of workers in the

medium-size factoriesare 16 years old orunder.

Protection contractsand worker organizingPreviously workers regularly used thethreat of work stoppages and wildcat

strikes to de-mand theirlegal bene-fits. Collec-tive actions

by workers toprotest rightsviolations arealmost non-existent atpresent. Thetrend to tem-poraryand/or short-term con-tracts, as wellas to ayoungerworkforce,contributesto this situa-tion. With lit-tle or norealistic ex-pectation of improvingtheir situa-

tion in their current workplace, work-ers prefer to move on to another fac-tory that perhaps offers some smallbenefit beyond what they are receiv-ing.

Although minimum labour stan-dards tend to be better respected inthe large garment factories, most of

these factories have signed protec-tion contracts with an affiliate of anofficial union confederation theCTM, CROM and FROC-CROC.15 Work-ers are often unaware that a collec-tive bargaining agreement exists, andare denied access to such agree-ments. Union representatives are notdemocratically elected, and workersmay not even know they are mem-bers of the union. In effect, theseunions function as a means of inhibit-ing spontaneous organizing andblocking the emergence of truly rep-resentative worker organizations.

In many of the larger factories thatproduce for well-known brands,newly hired workers are asked to fillin questionnaires, ostensibly to assesstheir qualifications. However, suchquestionnaires often include ques-tions about past labour organizing


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activity, such as whether theyve everknown or had a relationship with aunion leader or activist, or whetherthey have brought a case before theLocal Conciliation and ArbitrationBoard.

Workers who have tried to formauthentic unions in the past havebeen blacklisted, as in the VaquerosNavarra case. 16 This experience, aswell as the continued blacklisting of organizers, discourages workers fromtaking collective action.

Official unions have shown littleinterest in medium and smaller facto-ries. Long, intense workdays and iso-lation in home-based or othernon-traditional work settings alsomake it difficult for workers to organ-

ize for change.

CONCLUSION

ALTHOUGH THERE HAS BEEN A SIGnificant decline in apparel produc-tion for export in the Tehuacan

region due to cyclical downturns inthe US economy, the demise of theimport quota system and the currenteconomic crisis, the region remains amajor producer of garments, partic-ularly jeans and other denim prod-ucts. And while a number of international brands have ceasedplacing or reduced orders with sup-pliers in the region, we can antici-pate an increase in production forthe US market as the economic re-covery takes hold.

International brands currentlysourcing from or considering placingorders in Tehuacan need to take into

consideration the structural changesthat have taken place in recent years.For instance, policies need to be devel-

oped and communicated to suppliersconcerning the growing problems as-sociated with short-term employmentcontracts, and subcontracting of partsof the production process to clandes-tine workshops and homes.

Many of these structural changesalso have specific impacts on womenworkers and their children that needto be addressed, such as the failure of employers to register workers withIMSS, thereby denying women andtheir children decent health care and

pregnancy coverage, and brandsmust begin to address these gender-specific issues.

International brands also need totake proactive steps to address thebarriers to freedom of association, in-

cluding anti-union discrimination inhiring practices and the prevalence of protection contracts in large factories.

Given the shift in production to-ward the domestic market, greater at-tention also needs to be paid byMexican and international labourrights groups to the policies and ac-tions of Mexican brands and retailersthat source products from Tehuacan.Lessons from campaigning and en-gagement with international brandscould be applied to parallel efforts to

challenge Mexican brands and retail-ers to ensure respect for workersrights in their national supply chains.


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1 Rodrigo Santiago 2010 study, prepared be-tween March and July, is based on a review of data from official sources, local media coverageand interviews with workers and other inter-ested parties. Over 120 interviews with workerswere carried out as part of a collaborative proj-ect between a Tehuacan-based womens indige-nous organization, Colectivo Obreras Insumisas,and Mujeres Trabajadoras Unidas, (MUTUAC), anational womens labour rights NGO. Further in-terviews were conducted by Santiago specifi-cally for the purposes of this report. The 2003Spanish report, Tehuacn: del calzn de manta alos blue jeans, La nueva industria del vestido enMexico, los trabadores y las communidades indge-nas by Martin Amaru Barrios Hernandez and Ro-drigo Santiago Hernandez, was published inJanuary of that year and is available at:http://es.maquilasolidarity.org/node/148. TheEnglish summary, Tehuacan: blue jeans, blue wa-ters and workers rights by the Maquila SolidarityNetwork and The Human and Labour RightsCommission of the Tehuacan Valley, published inFebruary 2003, is available at: http://en.maquila-solidarity.org/node/454.

2Jimnez, Tania Damin. El 50 por ciento de las400 maquiladoras de Tehuacn, en la cl adestini-dad: Canacintra, La Jornada de Oriente , 2 June2009. Available at: http://www.lajornadadeori-ente.com.mx/2009/06/02/puebla/eco107.php

3 Under the 1995 Agreement on Textiles andClothing (ATC), import quotas applied under theMFA to countries in the global South were grad-ually phased out and finally eliminated on Janu-ary 1, 2005, ushering in a new era of freer tradefor the global garment industry.

4 Article 37 of the Federal Labour Law states thatdeterminate employment contracts can only beused: where required by the nature of the work performed, when intended to temporarily re-place another worker, and in other cases pro-vided for by this Act. Though vague, it is clearthat the spirit of the law is to limit the use of short-term contracts. This view is further sup-

ENDNOTES

ported by Article 35 which states that in the ab-sence of express terms, the [employment] rela-tionship is deemed to be for indeterminatetime, and Article 38 which gives examples of thelimited cases in which short-term contracts canbe used, in this case the restoration of aban-doned mines and the exploitation of mines withlimited financially viable minerals.

5 The factory was closed shortly after workersvoted in a union representation election (re-cuento) in favour of being represented by a dem-ocratic union and in spite of the fact that at leasttwo international brands agreed to place ordersat the facility.

6 A September 11, 2008 investigative report bythe Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) verifiesthat blacklisting of former Vaqueros Navarraworkers took place in the hiring process at theConfecciones Mazara factory. The report is avail-

able at: http://www.workersrights.org/Fre-ports/ConfeccionesMazara.asp

7 The PRI was defeated in the July 2010 elections,and the newly elected coalition government willtake office in February 2011.

8 CANAIVES is theCmara Nacional de la Indus-tria del Vestido (the National Apparel Industry As-sociation). CANACINTRA is theCamara Nacional de la Industria de la Transformacion . (the NationalManufacturers Association).

9 The Vaqueros Navarra plant, which was c losedin January 2008, has recently been reopenedunder the name Hares Apparel. Santiago has in-cluded it as one of the 11 facilities however de-spite worker suspicions that it continues to be a

part of Grupo Navarra and owned by the Fernan-dez family, this had not been confirmed.

10 In 2003, Eslava was part of the Grupo Navaraconsortium; it is currently independent.

11 Protection contracts (contratos de proteccinpatronal) are collective bargaining agreementsnegotiated between employers and corrupt

union officials or lawyers without the knowledgeand/or consent of the affected workers. In manycases, such agreements are negotiated beforeany worker is hired. They serve to protect em-ployers from the threat of workers organizingauthentic unions in order to negotiate improve-ments in wages and working conditions.

12 Sandblasting has been criticized as exposingworkers to major health and safety risks such assilicosis from the inhalation of silica if properprotective gear is not worn and/or exposure lev-els are too high. As a result some brands havediscontinued this process and called for a banon its use.

13 Heavy exposure to potassium permanganatecan cause manganese poisoning.

14 Hand sanding also exposes workers to similarhealth risks, such as asthma from dust exposure.See: Fashion victims: a report on sandblasteddenim, Fair Trade Center, November 2010, p. 9,www.fairtradecenter.se/english.

15 The CTM (Confederacin de Trabajadores deMxico) is the Confederation of Mexican Workers,and the CROM (C onfederacin Regional ObreraMexicana ) is the Regional Confederation of Mexi-can Workers. The CTM and the CROM are amongthe largest national official union confedera-tions in Mexico. The FROC-CROC is the Pueblabranch of the CROC ( Confederacin Revolu-cionaria de Obreros y Campesinos), the Revolu-tionary Confederation of Workers andCampesinos, another national confederation.

16 For information on blacklisting of former Va-queros Navarra workers, see 2008 WRC report at:

http://www.workersrights.org/Freports/Confec-cionesMazara.asp

Maquila Solidarity Network December 2010www.maquilasolidarity.org

Photos: Rodrigo Santiago Hernandez

Unless otherwise noted, this report is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.

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