“Maquila” industry refers to a variety of manufacturers located in northern Mexico which take advantage of extremely low wages in Mexico and favorable U.S. and Mexican trade and tax incentives. The firms involved are generally U.S., Japanese and Western European multinationals which locate in Mexico in order to avoidhaving to pay decent wages and transportation costs, and to avoid environmental and other regulations which limit profit maximization.
2.
See “Interdenominational Hearings on Toxics in Minority Communities Testimonies.” Unpublished transcripts. South-West Organizing Project, 1990.
3.
See “Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States: A National Report of the Racial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Communities Surrounding Hazardous Waste Sites.”Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ, 1987; “Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills and Their Correlation with the Racial and Socio-Economic Status of Surrounding Communities.”U.S. General Accounting Office, 1983; and “Toxics and Minority Communities.” Issue Pac #2, Alternative Policy Institute of the Center for Third World Organizing, 1986.
4.
See KazisR. and GrossmanR.Fear at Work: Job Blackmail, Labor, and the Environment. The Pilgrim Press, 1983 and “Labor/Community Watchdog — A Three Year Organizing Strategy to Impact the Los Angeles Clean Air Plan.”Labor/Community Strategy Center, Van Nuys, California, 1989.
