“Work is a social right and social obligation. It is not an article of commerce; it requires respect for the freedom and dignity of the person performing it and it shall be carried out under conditions protecting the life, the health and a decent standard of living for the worker and his family. No distinctions shall be made between workers on the grounds of race, sex, age, religious belief, political opinion or social status.”
— Article III, Mexican Federal Labor Law
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References
1.
LevensteinC.WoodingJ.RosenbergB.1996. “The social context of occupational health.” In LevyB. S. and WegmanD., Occupational Health, 3rd. edition, Boston: Little Brown.
2.
RussellJ. W.1994. After the fifth sun. Class and race in North America. New York: Prentice Hall:190–91.
3.
See BeneriaL.1987. The crossroads of class and gender: Industrial homework, subcontracting, and household dynamics in Mexico City. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Also, BeneriaL. and FeldmanS.1992. Unequal burden: Economic crises, persistent poverty, and women's work. Boulder: Westview Press. Fernandez-KellyM. P.1983. For we are sold, I and my people: Women and industry in Mexico's frontier. Albany: State University of New York Press.
4.
La BotzD.1992. Mask of Democracy: Labor Suppression in Mexico Today. South End Press, Boston.
5.
Consejo Nacional de Poblacion, Unpublished population projections, 1996.
6.
RendonT. and SalasC.1993. “El empleo en Mexico a partir de los anos ochenta. Tendencias y cambios,”Comercio Exterior, 43: 8.
7.
FleckS. and SorrentinoC., “Employment and unemployment in Mexico's labor force,”Monthly Labor Review, November 1994.
8.
To paraphrase the aphorism attributed to the dictator Porfirio Diaz: “Poor Mexico: So far from God and so close to the United States!” (Diaz was defeated by the Mexican revolution in 1910.)
9.
BarkinD.1993. “Building Trinational Labor Solidarity in an era of free trade.”New Solutions. Summer:3–10.
10.
La BotzDan. op. cit.
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ChomskyN.1993. “The Masters of Mankind.”The Nation, March 29:412–416.
12.
Article 123, sections XIV and XV. Constitucion Politica de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Mexico: Ediciones Delma.:98.
13.
Ley Federal del Trabajo. 1970. 13a ed.Mexico, Ediciones Delma.
14.
ScarpacciJ.1989. (ed.) Health services privatization in industrial societies. Rutgers. New Jersey, offers a discussion about the forces that press the state to give preferential treatment to capital in order to ensure the social reproduction of classes.
15.
Levenstein, op. cit.
16.
For a descriptive analysis, see the following articles: WoodingJ.“Health and safety in the Reagan-Thatcher era.”1990. New Solutions. Summer; 42–53; SassR.1991. “A critique: Canadian public policy in work place health and safety.”New Solutions. Fall; 39–46; LevyB.S., 1992. “Occupational health policy issues in Kenya: Considerations for other less developed countries.”New Solutions. 3; l: 55–60.
17.
Levenstein, op. cit. p. 7.
18.
Barkin, op. cit., p. 3.
19.
DenmannC.LaraB.E.LaraF., and BalcazarH.1993. Reestructuracion productiva y condiciones de trabajo en la maquila de Sonora. in: CovarrubiasA. and SolisA. (eds). Sindicalismo, relaciones laborales y libre comercio. Hemosillo: El Colegio de Sonora. 135–160.
20.
Moure-ErasoR.WilcoxM.PunnetL.CopelandL.LevensteinC.1994. “Back to the future: Sweatshop conditions on the Mexico-U.S. border.” I. Community health impact of maquiladora industrial activity. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 25: 319.
21.
Article 202, General Statute of Health and Safety in the Work Place. In: Ley Federal del Trabajo, op. cit. p. 562.
22.
IMSS. 1991. Casos de Riesgo de Trabajo.
23.
TovalinH. and VelazquezA. L.1993. “La salud ocupacional en Mexico: Perspectivas con el TLC,” (mimeo.)
24.
This situation is well described by Levenstein, op.cit.
25.
The consequence of such an approach is that the spheres of both occupational and environmental health are blurred with curative-care services. In that manner, curative care may be provided as compensation to the proletariat when occupational and environmental services are inadequate.
26.
EskenaziB.GuendelmanS.ElkinE.P.1993. “A preliminary study of reproductive outcomes of female Maquiladora workers in Tijuana, Mexico.”American Journal of Industrial Medicine24(6): 667–676.
27.
DenmannC.1989. La salud de las obreras en las maquiladoras: El caso de Nogales, Sonora. In: Conflicto y sobrevivencia. Guadalajara, Mexico: Universidad de Guadalajara Press.
28.
Some reports have characterized this as “centavear la salud.” Translation: “Sell your health for a penny.”
29.
The threat used by companies of moving to other countries if the workers persist in their demands for a decent salary and health and safety conditions is applied all over the world. In the U.S., they threaten to move to Mexico; if in Mexico, to go to the Philippines.
30.
JornadaLa, January 11, 1994.
31.
Federal Labor Law, Article 67.
32.
The Mexican Constitution, Article 123, paragraph A, fraction XII, and Federal Labor Law, Title IV, chapter III, mandate that the enterprises must provide comfortable and hygienic housing to the employees; this has been transformed into a tax paid to the National Institute for Housing, INFONAVIT. Employer and employees contribute to founding the INFONAVIT, and workers have the possibility of obtaining credits to buy or construct their homes.
33.
BecerrilA.La Jornada. January 16, 1994, and La Jornada Laboral, January 27, 1994.
34.
United Press International, “Nestle warns it may consider Mexico presence due to strike” January, 13, 1994; and Reuters, “Forty-Day strike ends at Nestle in Mexico” January 16, 1994. Also, Economist Intelligence Unit Country Report. “Economic Policy: Labor code reforms are stifled at birth”. March 1, 1994.
