I share some of the same sentiments. And I am conflicted...
Huffy is closing the last of its US factories in Farmington, MO. Folks
(with years of experience in blue-collar manufacturing jobs) are
scrambling for service sector employment. Their training and employment
history disqualifies them from all but the low-wage positions.
At the same time, Los Angeles-based Garment Services Int'l recently
opened an apparel maquiladora on the outskirts of Tijuana (I have spent a
fair amount of time in the plant). Workers (mostly because the labor
market is so tight in the border region) are earning 2-3 times the minimum
wage, have a decent work environment, access to free on-site child care,
and labor-management relations are quite good. Turnover is about 2%.
Cut, make, and trim work (sewing) is tough, but the GSI employees leave
work to better living environments, more money in their pockets, and don't
have to pull their school-age kids out of school to sustain the family.
These folks are unionized under the CTM (the government "puppet" union).
The AFL-CIO has attempted to work with independent unions to reorganize
the factory. The workers are livid. They want no part of it.
Although I would like to see GSI workers earn 10 times (rather than 2-3)
the prevailing wage, I can't help but question US labor tactics in
relation to developing countries' workplaces.
This bothers me, given that I have been pro-union all my working life.
Am I being overly-critical?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A man who works with his hands is a laborer;
a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman;
but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart
is an artist" Louis Nizer (1902-1994)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*************************************
Judi A. Kessler
Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0510
La Jolla, CA 92093-0510 USA
(858) 534-4147 or (858) 534-4503
*************************************
On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, Andrew Straw wrote:
> I must admit that I am often torn between supporting those who want freer
> trade and those who are interested in protecting workers in core countries
> like the US.
>
> On the one hand, laborers in the US have fought for decades to attain fair
> wages and reasonable benefits for the hard work they do. Making trade
> freer gives management a huge leverage and bargaining tool: either take
> our offer or we will do a serious cost/benefit about whether we should
> move to Juarez/Singapore/Thailand, etc. Of course this is a threat to the
> livelihood of core-country laborers and their unions. I think of it as
> macro-level union busting.
>
> On the other hand, providing good jobs in other countries is not such a
> bad thing either. How many workers in SW Indiana complained when Toyota
> built a factory there? People were lining up to work there because jobs
> are scarse in such rural areas. The same happens when an American company
> moves to a rural part of another country: they line up for those jobs
> because for them, they ARE good jobs. If the jobs paid a relatively awful
> wage in that country, there would not be such a demand to become an
> employee.
>
> In my opinion, after listening to the many distinguished voices on this
> list, we are in a period of turbulence which will last for some
> time--perhaps another 20 years? After which time, the dust will have
> cleared, and most jobs will have workers who are paid the rate that
> benefits stockholders the most. Whether or not that result is a living
> wage capable to sustaining a quality standard of living has yet to be
> determined.
>
> I don't see protests in Seattle as changing this verdict in the least.
> It was happening before the WTO, and will continue whether that
> organization is abolished or not. As someone who does care about workers
> both in core and peripheral countries, I think the best thing is to use
> what little nation-state power there remains to increase the diversity of
> precisely the stockholding ownership that drives this system.
>
> Make more people owners. Active owners. Both in core AND in peripheral
> countries.
>
> Any other answers? Concerns?
>
> Andrew U. D. Straw
> Fredericksburg, VA
>
