Child Labor In Mexico

Child Labor in Mexico

Veronica Hernandez began her working career in a factory sweatshop. She was only 8 years old. After more than 12 years of intense and monotonous work in a number of different factories, Hernandez still, “felt as poor as the day she first climbed onto the lower rungs of the global assembly line” (Ferriss, source#2). Veronica works about 45 hours a week for only a base salary of $55, an occupation where she assembles RCA televisions by the Thomson Corporation. While some people you know complain of not having cable or enough channels for their big screen television, Veronica is blessed that she even owns one. She lives in a one room hut that includes no more than an out-house and an old refrigerator. She has to haul water from a single faucet that services a group of other families as well as her own. Hoping that some development would come (either in working conditions or wage) since the beginning of her working career as a child, Hernandez knows that progress hasn’t developed within the last couple of years. While she continues to slave in вЂ?maquiladoras’ (U.S. and other foreign-owned factories that assemble products for consumers), people around the globe are searching to find alternate ways to create work. The need for improvement in working conditions and withholding laws to keep young children out of factory work is urgent. Child labor is a serious issue that needs the world’s attention now more than ever.

Child labor has become an ongoing global concern for many years. The practice sweatshops in places such as South America and Asia are responsible for much of the manufactured goods people own today. While hundreds of organized unions and corporations look for answers to this unhealthy working environment for children, no dramatic changes are being done. Due to the massive amount of children being unfairly forced to work, a change isn’t quick to come by. Many different variables play a part in finding a solution to help end child labor. Unfortunately, this form of labor plays a large role in Mexico’s economy. Although the country has anti-child labor laws, the children of Mexico are forced to work for a variety of reasons. Most families force the children to work due to their struggle with poverty and lack of income. Although some organizations (like the North American Free Trade Agreement) look at solutions to help boost Mexico’s economy, large international corporations enter the country’s struggling economy capitalizing on it’s low cost manufacturing and wages, thus forcing children to work. Solutions must be looked at in order to stop kids from working their childhood away instead of getting an education to ultimately help Mexico’s economy.

The link between Mexico and poverty is a large reason why children are forced to work in factories. Poverty began to be an issue for Mexico starting many years ago. In the 1940s, when industrialization began taking place, Mexico’s economy was growing at a rate of 6 per cent per year (Latapi and Gonzalez). This increase in the economy created two new social classes: the urban middle class and the new working class. By the late 70s, at least half of the working middle class held jobs related in manufacturing (Latapi and Gonzalez). This employment gave wages high enough to allow one worker the ability to support his entire family. Unfortunately, while the rich were getting richer, the poor were becoming increasing poor. While some flourished in the successful social classes, the poor were dealing with a lifestyle hard to live by. During the 1980s an economic crisis erupted in Mexico and throughout Latin America. Economic growth stopped abruptly, revising trends from the previous, successful years. The impact of this economic crisis hit especially hard on the employment structure as well as the price of consumer goods. “The urban poor were hit particularly by shrinking wages, growing unemployment, stagnation in the level of formal employment, and decreasing public funding for social expenditure and subsidies previously aimed at basic foodstuffs and urban services” (Latapi and Gonzales). This capital crisis drove individual countries to cope with the hardship on their own. Most countries, including Mexico, looked at resuming growth through exporting (agricultural and manufactured goods). Wages became so important because they not only dictated consumer habits, but also affected the cost of exports. The business of exporting soon became a game of lowering wages and getting more mobility with who they exported with. Unfortunately, the lowering of prices in Mexico’s products also deteriorated the living conditions of the lower class families. As a result, poverty increased. By 1990, 39% of all urban populations in Latin America suffered from poverty, with 62.5 per cent of all Mexican households being poverty stricken (Latapi and Gonzalez). The poor began to cope with the adverse economy through the members of their household. Because individual wages become so low for these poverty stricken families, they couldn’t survive on one individual’s salary. “Employment grew twice as rapidly as the population of working age, and three times as rapidly as population growth” (Latapi and Gonzalez). This act unfortunately obligated women and children to enter the work force. Young boy and girls were forced to work in sweatshops, factories and mills in order to keep food on the table. Work for the young began in Maquiladoras, an in-bond manufacturing industry, and led to large corporations and businesses (especially from the U.S.). Laboring in factories such as these forced children to work despite unlawful working environments and wages.

www.sscnet.ucla.edu/chavez/hinojosa/chicano125/interl_g5.html

With over 3,500 maquiladora factories scattered throughout the country, Mexico’s landscape is overwhelming seen as a labor intensified geography. These maquiladoras are estimated to employ approximately 1.2 million workers, all manufacturing products to export to the United States (www.Crea-inc.org/pr01.htm). What little is being paid to these workers is a huge factor that is contributing to Mexico’s poverty. Dr. Ruth Rosenbaum, executive director of the Center for Reflection, Education and Action (CREA) conducted an experiment, declaring, “The wages paid maquiladora workers for a full work week do not enable them to meet basic human needs of their family for nutrition, housing, clothing and non-consumables. It would take between four to five