Maquiladora

Maquiladora is the name of Mexican factories located near the border between the US and Mexico. Since it is in a free trade zone geographically very close to the United States and labor is much cheaper in Mexico than in the US, a large number of American companies have factories there. The scale of Maquiladora is huge as 1.3 million people currently work among 3,000 factories. It brings large economic growth for Mexico, however, it cause severe problems as well.

“For 13 years, I earned the same salary: 110 pesos (sum equivalent to $7.85) a day.”

“We don’t have hopes for a better life here for our kids.”

These are the words said by workers in maquiladoras. In Mexico, a public secondary school charges parents for $11 a month and therefore many teenagers end up going to factories or involving illegal activities.

“These people come to work hard, to suffer. They are willing to work for very little,” said by a manager at a plant in Maquiladora.

The relationship between employee and employer is apparently not satisfactory but it is the norm here. There are a lot of firms that miss one important thing on their way of making money in Maquiladora and that is business ethics. Just like for a man to be a man is not just to keep himself physically healthy, being a business is more than just making money. The behavior of keeping the low wages for workers directly affect the basic lives of its employees. This is not good because many workers are eventually also customers.