COALITION FOR JUSTICE IN THE MAQUILADORAS
October 1, 2008 |
CJM Staff Report |
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Dear CJM Board, members and allies, We are just recovering from the impact of hurricane Ike in the Galveston and Houston area, when the news of the economic crisis on Wall Street shook America. The hurricane devastated Galveston. A week afterwards people still can’t return to their homes. In Houston, to get the basics such as water, ice, or food you needed to stand in long lines. There were also long lines to get gas and the prices went up. Millions of people on the Texas east coast were without electricity, phone or email services. But hope and faith have uplifted the community. Many volunteers have responded by helping each other through this tremendous devastation. The hurricane also has made us realize how dependent we are on resources that rely on natural forces and as well as on each other. We were just absorbing the impact of this natural disaster when we got the news of an economic crisis that should have been predictable. For decades the neoliberal economic model transformed the system, opening the doors to the free market and replacing the role of the state in regulating the economy. During this time the greed and speculation of the multinational corporations were unleashed upon the world. Health, education, public services and energy were privatized in many countries. Many people were unemployed in the US when corporations relocated to other countries where they could invade the land and pay poverty wages. Thrown off their land, millions from Mexico and Latin America emigrated to the US. The standard of living was eroded not just in the US but around the world. Buying power decreased while misery and poverty increased. The US administration began a crusade against terrorism and invaded Iraq, exploiting fear and protecting the status quo of fossil fuel dependency. The wall along the Mexico-US border intended to stop the exodus of undocumented people that the multinational corporations provoke is under construction. Undocumented people and social activists are targets of repression and surveillance. The resistance of people in many countries against this economic model has been evident and protesters have been repressed everywhere, including members of the media covering events. The civil and human rights of US citizens and those of many other countries have been swept away under the pretext of protecting national security Now, we see in the US that the state that was undermined by the corporations, is trying to rescue the economy by bailing out banks and investment groups such AIG. The state is taking money from taxpayers that could be used for schools and health programs and giving it to the banks in order to stabilize the impact of the crisis. It’s not yet clear who will help all the people who lost their homes in the mortgage crisis even as the multinational corporations are clamoring for government handouts. This scenario looks familiar because a version has happened in other countries. But now it’s our turn. The economic crisis has hit the US, and clearly it will affect everyone. In the northern border region, there are massive layoffs in the auto assembly plants. At the same time, they are taking advantage of the US economic crisis to blackmail the Mexican government, demanding more favorable terms and threatening to leave the country if they aren’t given these concessions. In Chihuahua, Phillips, Lear, Delphi and GM, laid off 26,000 workers and they are closing for weeks, leaving the workers without pay. Meanwhile they are adjusting the assembly lines for four cylinder models. GM laid off 600 workers in Silao, Guanajato, and is paying half-salaries to the workers while changing the assembly lines. In Tamaulipas, the cell phones, i-Pods and medical supply assembly plants are expanding. However, Mexico’s growth rate is expected to be only 2.5 next year, the lowest in Latin America, calling into question the neoliberal policies that link economic performance closely with US consumption patterns. This panorama suggests that immigration to the US will increase no matter whether a wall at the border or troops try to stop migrants. Given this bleak outlook, many Mexicans are left with little choice but to migrate to the US. About 500,000 workers – more than 1% of the entire workforce – are expected to migrate to the US in 2008. Migrant remittances are Mexico’s second most important source of hard currency, helping to stabilize macro-economic indicators while providing an important source of income for one-fifth of families. But immigration destroys families and communities, too. The longterm damage does not heal for generations– if ever. It is clear that the greed of the multinational corporations has created a fragile global economy. Everyone will be affected and CJM is no exception. CJM survives thanks to the generous contributions of philanthropic organizations and many religious congregations’ investments, as well as donations from individuals. This difficult time is also an opportunity, however, to overcome the fragmentation of the social movement and to be united as civil society. It’s time to lead in building a system that will provide stability and dignity for everyone. CJM is calling on all its members to be united in this critical time and to move forward together, taking advantage of this opening by implementing the diversity of social resources that as a plural coalition we can offer to our communities. Martha A. Ojeda ***************************************
Fundraising: Due to the long-term US economic crisis, CJM has been struggling to raise funds, as have many other non-profit organizations. Fundraising has become a major challenge in this economic climate. Even though we predicted that it would not be easy, we expected to raise at least fifty percent of our budget. However,most CJM funding comes from the revenues of the responsible investments of religious organizations and philanthropies, whose investments have been affected by the stock market crisis. Therefore, CJM‘s fundraising has been seriously impacted. US consumers also are facing financial problems and their buying power has been diminished. As a result, CJM’s small individual donations have decreased dramatically. The result is that CJM’s funding has been reduced tremendously. CJM’s income is currently less than 50% of its budget. CJM Annual Meeting: Every year with the exception of 2007, CJM has invested $50,000 of its budget in the General Assembly, covering all the expenses of transportation and lodging of the workers from all over the country. Because of the funding challenges this year, it will be impossible for CJM to hold its annual meeting. Instead, CJM will try to have a board meeting to evaluate its work and to update the work plan. But even that meeting will depend on our ability to raise the funds. The places being discussed for the meeting are Nuevo Laredo or Monterrey depending on the costs. Members of the Board of Directors should save the dates of 7-9 November 2008. CJM registration in Mexico: The Executive Committee has been exploring new sources of funding, and it was agreed to explore in Europe. However, having a US registration will be an impediment for European donors. Registering CJM in Mexico is covered in the bylaws, and in 2000, the Board of Directors approved and appointed its member organization ANAD, based in Mexico City, to establish CJM registration in Mexico. The Executive Committee agreed to pursue this mandate and ANAD is following the process to get the Mexican registration. ***************************************
CJM Activities Report The following is a narrative of the activities that CJM has been organizing and participating in during the last four months: Summary CJM also led a delegation of maquila workers from the northeast coast and women of Blanca Navidad, a shantytown located in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to have an exchange with the Mayan indigenous communities of Chiapas and the Zapotecas indigenous communities of Oaxaca. The impacts of free trade and alternatives to the neoliberal economic model were the topics of this powerful encounter. In order to learn about alternatives for health, the delegates participated in four workshops on traditional medicine in Oaxaca and Chiapas. CJM also has been empowering workers and its affiliate grassroots organizations to represent CJM in international events at the hemispheric level in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, as well as in the US. Finally, CJM led a Catholic Relief Services delegation to the border, and opened its branch office in Laredo, Texas. *** Regional Strategic Planning Workshops On June 6-8, CJM organized a Strategic Planning Workshop in Gómez Palacio
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On July 10th, CJM organized a Forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America [SPP] and the Mérida Initiative in Oaxaca. The speakers were Laura Carsen from the Americas Program and Alejandro Villamar from Mexican Free Trade Action Network [REMALC]. Laura and Alejandro shared information about this alliance, also called NAFTA Plus, between the US, Mexico and Canada signed by President Fox in Waco, Texas, in 2005.. They addressed how the SPP is affecting the daily lives of Mexicans and what is going on behind *** CJM’s Grassroots Members’ Organizations Margarita Avalos from The Center for Information for Workers of Tijuana (CITTAC), and Gerardo Juárez from the Workers in Struggle Committee from Juárez, two CJM grassroots organizations, represented CJM in an International From May 25-31, María del Refugio Guzmán represented CJM in an International Encounter on Health and Safety and New Ways of Organizing Labor and Productivity, in Curitiba, Brazil. She talked about how organizing in the maquilas along the northern border has been changing to a proactive and ongoing, consistent strategy, thanks to mapping the production process. Once workers learn how much they produce and how much the products cost, they realize that they are From July 25th to 30,2008, Norma Ojeda, a Key Safety Systems worker, and Israel Monroy from Popular and Workers Defense from Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, represented CJM in São Paulo, Brazil, in an Encounter on Comparative Mapping of the Production Process and New Technologies. On June 5-8, 2008, Carmen Valadez from the Colectiva Feminista (Feminist Collective) in Tijuana, and Juan Antonio Solis, a Key Safety Systems worker, represented CJM in Santiago de Chile at an International Conference on Precarious Labor. *** North- South Encounters – Health is a Human Right in the Work Place and Community The delegates learned many facets of traditional medicine. During their three week visit to In Tlalixtac, Oaxaca, the group PRODSA [Promotores In addition to accomplishing the objective of learning about traditional medicine, delegates also witnessed the social impact of the US-Mexico Alliance for Security and Prosperity in North America and the Plan Puebla Panama, the Mexican government’s development project in the south. They saw many examples of land and water being harnessed by foreign investors for the energy needs of US consumers, while indigenous people, like the residents of Blanca Navidad, live without electricity.
They learned about the massacre of 24 women who were killed by paramilitary forces in 1997 when they were praying in the church. Some of them were pregnant and the unborn babies were cut from their mothers’ wombs. The delegates could not accept that such horrible acts were possible. But they found that the indigenous communities are so spiritual and so close to God that they did not respond with violence but rather with prayers for those who assassinated the women and children and with vigils and marches demanding justice from the government. In the communities of Oventic, Morelia, and Roberto Barrios in the highlands of Chiapas they had powerful exchanges about the form of good government these communities have developed, how they preserve their traditions, run their own schools, conduct community education, and sustain cooperative projects and clinics. The delegates’ probing questions were an indicator of their hunger to know more and their interest in translating these models into alternatives that could grow from the realities of their own colonia. Here is a sample of some of the questions the delegates asked: Delegates also asked some critical questions, like this one from one of the teenagers: Why are you drinking Coke? Other questions led to immediate results, like José’s inquiry about how their security patrols work. Upon his return to Blanca Navidad, José proposed and received the community’s approval to organize a security patrol for the colonia modeled on the ones he learned about in Chiapas. One of the CJM’s goals for this project is to build women’s leadership through alternative healthcare knowledge and practice. The impact of the delegation on women’s knowledge and empowerment has already registered in Blanca Navidad. Immediately after they returned, the women delegates began sharing the herbal recipes they had learned for curing diarrhea, gastritis, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, and many other ailments. They have been teaching others in the community and also dispensing cures and recipes for products for everyday use like shampoo and soap. They have begun to make a garden for romero, ruda, albaca, and lavender – because they learned that these medicinal plants can thrive in the arid land of the colonia. Motivating the community The consciousness of the delegates was transformed as they learned not just about health and sustainable economic alternatives but about spiritual and peaceful strategies to keep unified and strong as a community and how to draw strength from a commitment to developing alternatives in a collective way and being active as agents for social justice. The delegation armed the participants from the north with information on alternative health practices that enhance their community Health Clinic and enable them to better meet the health needs of the colonia residents in immediate ways. The evidence that dissemination of information and care is occurring is apparent in the small curing successes they can report. Moreover, these lessons in health were learned and are now being shared in an understanding of health as a collective community endeavor linked to the making of lives with dignity. The lessons in health that the delegates brought back from Oaxaca and Chiapas and that the colonia is now embracing situate health care as a feature of individual and community empowerment for social justice. This is a major accomplishment. Sustainable Economic Alternatives: The Tortillería/Tortilla Factory of Blanca Navidad: In May the Blanca Navidad colonia accomplished a major step toward the goal of building a sustainable community economic project when they bought the machine to make tortillas. The building for the tortilla factory is now under construction. The expectation is that the tortilla-making project will be up and running in the next few months.
CJM extends its operations to Laredo, Texas: Thanks to our member Sra Ninfa Deandar and the Engineer Garza Barrios, CJM extended its operations to Laredo, Texas, with the opening of a branch office there. However, CJM will maintain its headquarters in San Antonio, Texas and its mailing address will be 3611 Golden Tee LN, 77459 in Missouri City, Texas
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Mapping the Production Process Workshop in Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas. Workers from Valle Hermoso, Reynosa, Rio Bravo and Matamoros participated in this workshop, which was given by Sergio Luis Bertoni from Transnational Information Exchange [TIE Brazil] and the anthropologist Adriana Monroy. The workers from Key Safety Systems drew a map of their plant, and they identified the hazards at the workplace that exist because the assembly lines are designed to increase productivity at the cost of the health of workers. The company is consolidating its operations and reducing the 
number of workers on the assembly line, and yet they are demanding the same standard of production with a smaller number of workers. As a result, many workers have health problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome, lower back pain, and other illnesses due to the chemicals they use without appropriate safety equipment. They developed an action plan to pressure the company to improve their working conditions. 
, Durango. Workers from the garment industry, the domestic sector, railroads and public road services attended the workshop. Mapping the production process was the popular education technique utilized, and it made workers aware of the potential they have to effect change and build justice in the workplace and in society. The lawyer Estela Ríos from ANAD, and the anthropologist Adriana Monroy were the instructors. 
The third Regional Strategic Planning workshop was held in Oaxaca from July 11-13. More than 40 workers from the public sector, education, health, and the highway department attended the workshop. When they applied the methodology of mapping and comparing their activities in the workplace, they realized that they are reproducing the system and the neoliberal model even though they are opposed to it. 
They also identified weaknesses in their organizing, and they learned to plan in advance in order to ensure that organizing efforts are ongoing and proactive, instead of reacting to attacks. The lawyer Estela Ríos from ANAD, and the anthropologist Adriana Monroy were the instructors. 
the scenes of this partnership. Estela Ríos from ANAD talked about Precarious Labor and the Reforms to the Pension and Retirement programs, and their relationship to the SPP. Carmen Villarreal from the Women’s Caucus of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca [APPO] addressed the criminalization of the social movements in Oaxaca. The forum was held in the auditorium of the Newspaper “Noticias” in downtown Oaxaca, and many workers from the health, education, and public service sectors attended. 
Seminar called “Labor responses to company strategies for labor flexibility and precarious Labor” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from May 16-19, 2008. Margarita and Gerardo shared information about the struggles in the maquilas along the northern border of Mexico, and how multinational corporations impose the model of the unions protecting the company through collective protection contracts instead of representing the workers. Margarita also shared how CJM is fighting back, empowering maquila workers as Labor Legal Defenders to represent workers in the labor courts. They also linked their struggles to other workers from Latin America 
producing a great amount of wealth for the multinationals. Once they compare the miserable salaries they are making with the huge profits of the corporations, they decide to organize in a collective way. Now, instead of a focus on a leader, all the workers on the line learn how the company is stealing not only their salaries, but also their time and dreams. Because of poverty wages, long hours and forced overtime, workers don’t have options, such as continuing their education or spending more time with their families.
Blanca Navidad traveled to the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas to learn traditional medicine. The delegates were a diverse group that included nine women, five of them maquiladora workers, one an older woman, two teenage girls, and a baby; three men, one an older man, one a maquila worker, and one man who has now become the security guard for the colonia. 
nine communities they attended five workshops and various encounters and informal meetings. In the city of Oaxaca, Colectiva Mujer Nueva taught them how to make soaps and creams to cure arthritis, muscle aches, and skin problems. In a workshop with the indigenous Zapoteca women they learned how to make teas that rebuild the immune system and they were introduced to a traditional Zapotec healing practice of the “temascal” in which the body is cleansed by absorbing the heat and vapors from hot stones, a way of re-connecting body, mind and spirit in the womb of mother earth. 
de Salud/Health Promoters] introduced the delegates to medicinal plants and explained those that are and are not compatible. The indigenous community of Los Riegos in Comitán, Chiapas held a workshop on traditional medicine where community health promoters taught 
the delegates a wide range of skills, from curing practices for smaller problems like infections to preventive health measures and for big problems like diabetes and cancer. The promoters taught the delegates how to collect medicinal plants and the elders explained the best time to cut and preserve them. Of all these informative workshops with indigenous communities, the delegates were most impressed with the community health projects of the Mayan indigenous people of the highlands 
of Chiapas. Their extensive medicinal garden, well-established clinic, and herbal medicine dispensary which are available to all of the people in the community were impressive examples of what cooperative planning can accomplish.
They saw the vast wind farms in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, where corporations from Spain and the US are taking over land from indigenous communities who now live in even greater misery. In Chiapas again and again they saw that water is plentiful—in the magnificent waterfalls of Agua Azul, in the Sumidero river canyon, and the lakes of Montebello. But they also learned that here, corporations are building dams to produce energy for the US.
Among the most important accomplishments of the delegation were the examples delegates witnessed and the fully-engaged interactions they had with indigenous communities who have responded to the injustices leveled against them by developing their own sustainable alternatives. 
How are children educated? How do your cooperatives and health clinics work?
The women delegates have been giving community power point presentations to share all they learned about the social challenges the indigenous communities in the south are faced with and their strategies for confronting them. The impact of these presentations on the community has been motivating and inspirational. The presentations not only share information to colonia residents eager to learn, but also offer the women delegates the opportunity to become visible as active agents of leadership for community needs and goals.
