Sustainable development blog : ecology and humanitarian aid

A guest post by Simon Phillips. For more by Simon visit http://elusiveworld.org/

TIJUANA, Mexico: A family of six migrant workers huddle together in a makeshift shack, one of thousands which cling to the harsh desert, and existence itself, within a stone’s throw of their employers: Korean factories. Samsung Corp. and Hyundai Corp. each employ over a thousand Mexican workers in their “maquiladoras’’ or foreign-owned factories, which line the U.S.-Mexico border.

In these factories people work long, gruelling shifts for a wage less than $2 an hour. It is these workers who produce Samsung’s new MP3 players and plasma-screen TVs, which people in richer parts of the world enjoy in relative comfort. The low wages earned in the factories do not go far and as the companies do not provide a welfare service for their employees, or pay any local taxes, overwhelming housing and health problems exist here.

The view across the slums, where the workers live, is apocalyptic. Thick pollution from factories fills the air above small semi-permanent dwellings made from scraps of wood. There are none of the facilities that we take for granted here: no running water or sewerage, let alone a safe place for children to play. People empty human waste and rubbish directly on to the land. Existence here is a matter of survival. “Of all the places I’ve been in the world, Tijuana is among the poorest,’’ said Mother Theresa of Mexico’s notorious north-westernmost city, which borders the seventh richest economy in the world: California.

The Border Industrialisation Program allows foreign companies such as Hyundai and Samsung to import parts to Mexico tariff free, where they are assembled by a low-wage workforce before being shipped to consumers in countries including the U.S. and Korea. Effectively, these companies have cut costs by transferring high paying jobs in Korea to low paying jobs in Mexico. The term “maquiladora,’’ refers to the practice of millers charging a “maquila’’ or “miller’s portion’’ for processing other people’s grain. The Mexican people are not the ones earning the maquila and they are suffering for it.

“Rats, mice, tarantulas and scorpions invade shacks built directly on top of the dirt and make-shift homes collapse in high winds. Respiratory and bronchial ailments abound every winter; babies have frozen to death and fire claims lives every year, according to Paula Clauson of Project Mercy, a charity working in the Colonias. As underemployed Mexicans continue to stream north in search of work in the maquiladoras, the situation in the Colonias continues to deteriorate. “The health and environmental hazards here are enormous and multiply every month as more people come to the region,’’ explains Clauson who adds, “the area is ripe for disease and disaster from flooding. There are no homeless or temporary shelters and no soup kitchens for the hungry.’’

Various international processes have all contributed to the situation here; the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which effectively forced 1.5 million Mexicans to give up farming, as they were unable to meet the price of corn produced by massively subsidised U.S. agribusinesses; the foreign companies who take advantage of vulnerable people looking for work; the Mexican government which maintains the status quo.

But why is this important to you, the reader? It is necessary for us to know that people living in these terrible conditions made some of the products we use. When one becomes aware of how one’s actions indirectly affect others, buying trends can change. It is from the level of the individual consumer that change can occur. Perhaps then companies will see fit to provide better salaries and welfare for their workers. South Koreans are known for their stance on political issues, especially regarding bilateral trade. This same attitude and awareness is a powerful tool that can change the lives of people suffering around the world, including the people who work in Tijuana’s maquiladoras.