REVEALS THREATS TO THIRD WORLD WORKERS

Ms. Ojeda and her fellow labor organizer, Manuel Mondragon, have been speaking in different parts of New York State for the past three weeks. Their tour is sponsored by the State Labor-Religion Coalition, of which Bishop Howard J. Hubbard is co-chair.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was instituted, said Ms. Ojeda, salaries for Mexican workers in the "maquiladoras" -- factories along the U.S.-Mexican border -- have dropped 23 percent.

"The middle class in Mexico have disappeared," she stated. "They're either very poor or very rich. Workers are the victims of this free trade agreement."

Impact of NAFTA

Ms. Ojeda said that many in the U.S. believe they won't be impacted by NAFTA, but the U.S. is a front-runner in importing and exporting not just products, but also jobs.

New York State industries from electronics to clothing have already moved over the border, where workers are paid $35 to $40 a week.

"If the people are unemployed here and in exploitation there, who's going to consume these products?" she questioned.

On-the-job dangers

The same workers, said Ms. Ojeda, are exposed to the glue used in the steering wheel covers without protection. As a result, many women miscarry, and a staggering number bear children with spina bifida or respiratory disorders. "We are losing many, many kids with these problems," she said.

Finally, the companies dump toxic waste into rivers that may flow over the border into towns like Brownville, Texas, where children have also been discovered to have higher levels of spina bifida.

One maquiladora worker, when asked what he'd like people in the U.S. to know, told the labor organizers: "I would like people to learn that this [steering wheel cover] was made with our blood. Think, while you're driving your fancy car, how many children were lost."

Farmworkers

Those farmworkers, Ms. Ojeda noted, may be living under conditions not much better than those on the other side of the border.

"These people came north to find a job," she said. Instead, "they have found discriminations. They are illegal; many people here think they are coming to steal their jobs. It's the same situation as Mexico -- low wages, exposed to pesticides."

The organizers hope to form links between workers and villages in Mexico, and Americans who will join forces to fight the injustices.

"We need to be united in order to increase our salaries, to have good conditions -- to have jobs," said Ms. Ojeda.

Solidarity

"They are workers," she said of all the groups together. In agreeing to be classified as an ethnic or other group, "they are playing the game of the corporations, because they are dividing them."

The speaker hopes her visit raises the consciousness of New Yorkers. "Christmas is coming," she said. "People say, `I want a Barbie doll for my kid,' while the workers in Tijuana from Mattel are losing their fingers because they don't have any protection. The worker must pay for these products they are consuming."

(To help the workers along the U.S.-Mexico border or participate in a delegation to go there, contact Maureen Casey of the Labor-Religion Coalition at 272-8275. To learn how to protest corporations' exploitation of workers, call the National Labor Committee at 212-242-3002. To learn about shareholder actions for churches and religious congregations, call the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility at 212-870-2295. To support the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras in San Antonio, call 210-732-8957.)

(10-21-99) [[In-content Ad]]