Arthur Cano
Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, August 30, 2022, p. 14
Many men and women employed in the maquiladora industry would like to live in the world that was drawn yesterday in a hotel room, next to the United States embassy.
Jesús Zarazúa, head of the T-MEC labor compliance working group, an instance of the National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry (Index), took advantage of the presence of high-ranking Mexican, Canadian and American officials to dispatch with the scenario they enjoy maquila workers in Mexico.
I speak of a fair environment where the center is the human being, with fair and well-paid work; of acceptable health and safety conditions; of work environments without harassment, sexual or psychological, of respect for human rights that will bring great rewards to companies that will have happy and motivated workers
.
Regional forum of treaty nations held
This is how the landscape was exposed in the first T-MEC Regional Labor Compliance Forum, which was inaugurated by Luisa María Alcalde, Secretary of Labor, and which included the participation of Shauna Hemingway, deputy ambassador of Canada; Pedro Américo Furtado, representative of the International Labor Organization; Luis Manuel Hernández, national president of Index, as well as, virtually, the US ambassador Ken Salazar and Julie A. Su, undersecretary of the US Department of Labor.
Zarazúa stated that the maquiladora industry is an example of compliance
in all orders: legal, environmental, customs and social responsability
. The same will be, he added, regarding the relationship with his employees: At work, it is not and will not be the exception.
.
He was referring to freedom of association, of course. He said that companies should respect the right of people to choose the union
of your preference, and also not to do it if they wish
(ie, the right not to have union representation, as is the trend of zero unions in the United States).
Already on track, he asked the Judiciary maintain a balance, providing companies with legal certainty
.
In his speech, Luis Manuel Hernández spoke of the importance of the sector (3.2 million jobs, 62 percent directed to foreign trade) and referred to the advance in the legitimization of collective labor contracts that, in the case of the maquiladora industry of export, registers an advance of 13 percent.
If you do not meet the deadline, which expires next May, we are going to look very bad as a country
.
He expressed his rejection of a legislative initiative that seeks to increase vacation days and put a cap on working hours: “The bonus is coming, the vacations are coming, instead of questioning whether we want to lower the hours, if we want to raise the hours, there are to see what we have.
If we don’t close what we have in front of us, why go higher on the cake?
In the dialogue of the renewed world of work, the absence of representatives of the unions was notorious (there were some of them cast, but none of the speakers).
– Why are there no union leaders?
“They weren’t invited,” Index’s president said dryly.
In a recorded message, Ambassador Ken Salazar conveyed Greetings from President Joe Biden
and recognized the leadership of Luisa Alcalde and her team. Thank you very much for everything you are doing
.
For her part, the deputy ambassador of Canada reported that her country is committed to supporting Mexico in the implementation of the labor reform
.
As part of this, he explained, there are two new labor attaches at the embassy and 27.5 million dollars (550 million pesos) have been allocated to support projects of the labor movement
and initiatives against forced and child labor in entities such as Jalisco and Sinaloa.
Before formally opening the event, the Secretary of Labor made a brief account of the advances in the matter during these years and indicated that in the United States and Canada it is clear that they need a strong commercial ally, with good wages and working conditions that are met
.
