CJM’s most notable accomplishment in the year 2007 was the publication of the book NAFTA from Below: Maquiladora Workers, Campesinos, and Indigenous Communities Speak Out on the Impact of Free Trade on Mexico. NAFTA From Below documents in detail what free trade has meant for the people of Mexico: the human cost of labor exploitation, the intense environmental pollution, cultural disintegration, and an increase in immigration. But it is also a testament to the courage and dignity of poor and working people in their struggles for land, health, and life, as well as to the alternatives to the current economic model that they are building from the grassroots.

Building Women’s Leadership: Last spring, CJM organized a delegation of four women maquila workers from Mexico to Morocco, Africa, where they met with maquila workers. The protagonists of the major struggles at SONY, DURO, Custom-Trim and LAJAT shared their experiences of the impact of NAFTA and the repression that they suffer when they organize. Workers learned that Delphi is one of the US corporations based in Morocco, and that it employs the same practices against women workers as it does in Mexico. Women from Morocco also shared the challenges presented by their patriarchal culture. Having this exchange between workers was a tremendous catalyst for organizing, inspiring workers in both countries.

In the fall, CJM facilitated the participation of a young maquila worker, Maria del Refugio Guzman, in a conference on precarious labor in Santiago, Concepcion and Port Mont in Chile, South America. She impressed the mostly male leaders, recounting her experiences organizing in the maquiladoras.

We Are All Immigrants Campaign: CJM, the Esperanza Center and the Fair Trade Coalition organized a community forum in The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas. The documentary Maquilopolis was shown, which is a collection of testimonies of mostly women maquila workers about the impact of free trade on their daily lives and on the environment. Yesenia Palomares and Teresa Loyola from the organization Colectivo Chilpancingo shared their experiences on how corporations are polluting their communities. Illustrating the connections to the root causes of immigration, Yesenia, Teresa and Maria del Refugio Guzman spoke about exploitation in the maquilas, gender discrimination, the lack of jobs and living wages, and indecent working conditions, as well as the consequent lack of decent housing and access to education and health programs in Mexico. The audience followed up with a discussion addressing the persecution and criminalization of undocumented people, massive deportations in the US, and the guest worker program.

In May, as a follow-up, representatives from The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center from San Antonio, Texas, and several activists from Houston and Austin, Texas, attended a workshop in the Blanca Navidad shantytown in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The detention centers for undocumented people located in Texas, the ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids, and massive deportations were addressed. People on both sides of the border were educated about the root causes of immigration to the US, the persecution faced by immigrants, and the possibilities for forging alliances.

Health is a Human Right in the Workplace and in the Community: As part of the CJM North-South Encounters Project, a delegation of women leaders from the indigenous communities from Chiapas traveled to the northern border. They spent two weeks in Blanca Navidad in Nuevo Laredo, a shantytown where maquila workers live. They talked about the challenges related to gender discrimination and labor exploitation that they face in southern Mexico, as well as about the alternative health and education and other self sufficient economic projects that they are working to build. At the end of the exchange, they built La Casa de la Salud [Health Center] and extended some pipes in order to have water in every street. All in all, they inspired the people of Blanca Navidad to keep fighting for their dignity.

Worker Empowerment:  A key aim of CJM is to empower workers, providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to become more effective agents for social change to transform their reality. To this end, in the spring, CJM and its members organized two local workshops on Health and Safety and Strategic Planning: one in Tijuana with the Worker Information Center (CITTAC), the workers of the Shonen factory, and the CJM affiliates in the region, and the second with the Labor and Popular Defense Committee and Cardinal Brand workers in Valle Hermoso. Additionally, CJM held a union organizing workshop with workers from VHL and Key Systems in Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas.

In accordance with its work plan, CJM organized four Regional Strategic Planning Workshops in the Fall: one in Oaxaca hosted by Union Women’s Association (MUSA), another in the La Laguna region hosted by the Lajat workers, one in Tamaulipas hosted by the Worker and Community Center, and the last in Tijuana hosted by CITTAC, Environmental Health Coalition EHC, Colectivo Chilpancingo Pro Justicia Ambiental, the Binational Feminist Collective [Colectivo Binacional Feminista] and the San Diego Maquiladora Workers’ Solidarity  Network.

Leadership and Capacity Building: As part of the North South Encuentros project, CJM organized a very successful speaking tour by Onesimo Hidalgo of CIEPAC, a grassroots organization from Chiapas. Onesimo visited the cities of San Antonio, Houston, Kansas City, Lawrence, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Vancouver BC, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Moscow, Idaho, among others-- 15 cities in all in the US and Canada. He spoke to hundreds of people about the impact of free trade on maquila workers and indigenous people, the Plan Puebla Panama project, and their connection with immigration and militarization, received media attention, and simultaneously did outreach for CJM and his own organization. He also talked about the social change taking place in Mexico and its affect on women’s lives, as well as economic alternatives that are developing in Mexico.

As part of their empowerment training, CJM facilitated the participation of the Labor and Popular Defense Committee from Valle Hermoso and the Union Women’s Association from Oaxaca, two grassroots’ organizations from the CJM Executive Committee, in an international meeting of the Transnational Information Exchange in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November.

Reclaiming Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association In November, CJM and its members, the Transnational Information Exchange (TIE), the Center for Labor Research and Union Advice (CILAS), the National Democratic Lawyer Association (ANAD) and the Telecommunications Union organized an International Workers’ Forum on “Reclaiming Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association and Against Collective Bargaining for Corporate Protection.” The speakers were workers from the struggles that took place at Sony, Custom Trim, DURO, Industrias Fronterizas, LAJAT, Sohnen, Industria Fronteriza, Key System and Muebles Fino Buenos. The international speakers attending included Mayra Jimenez of the Workers Federation in the Free Trade Zones [FUTRAZONA] from the Dominican Republic, Ineke Jansen of Transnational Information Exchange from Amsterdam, Sergio Luis Bertoni of the Transnational Information Exchange from Brazil, Federico Vocos of Taller de Estudios Laborales from Argentina, and others. The goal of the international forum was to announce that CJM will be presenting an international complaint to the ILO regarding the numerous documented cases of violation of the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining since the passage of NAFTA.
 
CJM renewed leadership and extended to South America: The Executive Committee was fortified through the election of Amelia Simpson of the Environmental Health Coalition from the United States as President, and the election of Jon Hunt of the Campaign for Labor Rights as Treasurer. The leadership of the Executive Committee was extended to Brazil with the election of Sergio Luis Bertoni of the Transnational Information Exchange, and the vacancy left by our compañero Alejandro Pérez who recently passed away was filled by Gerardo Juarez, a representative of the same organization, Comité de Obreros en Lucha. Together with Reyes Edelemira of the Lajat workers, Rosario Garcia of the Union Women’s Association (MUSA) from Oaxaca, and Israel Monroy of the Labor and Popular Defense Committee, they form the new CJM Executive Committee.

Eye-opening experiences: CJM continued educating the general public by giving tours in which consumers meet with maquiladora workers and member groups in the northern border. Through these “eye-opening experiences,” consumers begin to understand the devastating effects of NAFTA. Most importantly, these delegations strengthen cross-border solidarity between communities who come to see that they are intertwined in a common struggle for justice.  CJM welcomed a delegation in the spring from the Arthur Morgan School in North Carolina, and is coordinating a delegation from the IWW union in December.

CJM Networking: CJM has participated in several local and international forums with religious organizations, universities, unions and community groups, strengthening ties between activists and organizations around the world. Some examples are: Women’s Day March- Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, Peace Initiative and CJM in San Antonio, Texas, First Annual Symposium on Immigration- Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio Texas, Community Forum on Trade and Workers Rights- Texas Fair Trade Coalition -Saint Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Lessons from NAFTA - Building a Fair Trade Agenda – Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis.

CJM’s Executive Director was recognized as the Social Activist of the Year with the Emilio Krieger Award by the National Democratic Lawyer Association in September in Mexico City. This award has also been given to Digna Ochoa, Rosario Ibarra de Piedra and Don Samuel Ruiz.