Maquiladora

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Maquiladora shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Maquiladora offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Maquiladora at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Maquiladora? Wrong! If the Maquiladora is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Maquiladora then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Maquiladora? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Maquiladora and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Maquiladora wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Maquiladora then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Maquiladora site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Maquiladora, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Maquiladora, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

A maquiladora or maquila is a factory that imports materials and equipment on a duty-free and tariff basis for assembly or manufacturing and then re-exports the assembled product, usually back to the originating country.

"Maquiladora" is primarily used to refer to factories in Mexico towns along the United States–Mexico border, but increasingly is used to refer to factories all over Latin America. Maquiladora factories encompass a variety of industries including electronics, transportation, textile, and machinery, among others. Maquiladoras may be 100% foreign-owned (usually by United States companies) in most countries. The use of maquiladoras is an example of offshoring. Other countries such as Japan, Germany, and Korea have maquiladoras as well, but the majority of them are located in Mexico and are associated with United States' companies.Hampton, Elaine. Globalization Legacy: A View of U.S. Factory Involvement in Mexican Education. p. 2.

The term "maquiladora", in the Spanish language, refers to the practice of millers charging a "maquila", or "miller's portion" for processing other people's grain.Wilson, Patricia A. Exports and Local Development: Mexico's New Maquiladoras. p. 139.

Growth and Development The first maquiladora in Mexico was established in Tecate, Baja California in the summer of 1964 by Angus Cannon Fox, Jr., at the urging of Bruno Pagliai, an Italian-born Mexican industrialist who, at the time, was married to screen actress Merle Oberon. Fox, then a resident of Sylmar, California, met with Pagliai in Mexico City after reading an article about him titled Modern Medici in the May 10, 1963 issue of Time Magazine. Fox investigated Tijuana and Ensenada as possible locations for his business venture, but settled on Tecate because of its immediate proximity to the U.S. border, its low volume of commercial traffic at the border crossing, and because it was largely free of the carnival-like tourist atmosphere and generally unsavory reputation that characterized Tijuana. The manufacturing business established by Fox, which was named Electrónica del Noroeste S.A., was housed in a large brick building that had earlier been a capacitor plant. Located several blocks to the west of the town's beer factory on the same street, but opposite side, the building was leveled in the mid-nineties. The building’s slab and some asphalt floor tile were all that remained in 2005, with a bustling open-air market and small shops covering the site. While operating, the factory was equipped with Leesona 107 and 108 stick coil winders, George Stevens bobbin winders, band saws for singulating stick-wound coils, coalescing equipment for compressing the ends of singulated coils, vacuum equipment for impregnating singulated coils with varnish, and industrial ovens for baking the varnish-impregnated coils. Electrónica del Noroeste S.A. produced primarily transformers and solenoids for the U.S. market, and its customers included McCann's Engineering and Manufacturing Company (a Los Angeles manufacturer of soft drink dispensing machines), Friden Corporation (a San Leandro-based manufacturer of electromechanical calculators and other automated office equipment), and Hewlett-Packard Corporation. After Electrónica del Noroeste was sold to Genisco Technology, Inc. in 1968, Fox established another maquiladora in Tecate named, simply, Maquiladora Tecate. Located on the outskirts of town on the Ensenada highway in a building, landscaped with two palm trees, that had been a night club, Maquiladora Tecate manufactured similar products, as well as trigger coils for Honeywell photo strobe flashes and core memory used in early generations of mainframe computers. The latter business was closed shortly after Fox was killed on the evening of May 15, 1971 when his Cessna 172E (N5678T) crashed and burned following engine failure while on final approach to Gillespie Field over mountains to the east. The building was subsequently used as a mattress factory until it caught fire in the late seventies. Only the wood-framed office that Fox had added at the front of the building survived intact. The dilapidated office, inhabited by squatters, and the two palm trees were all that remained in 2005. Fox’ daughter, Claudia, is married to U.S. Congressman Chris Cannon, an outspoken proponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

During the latter half of the sixties, maquiladora industries rapidly expanded both geographically and economically and by 1985, had become Mexico’s second largest source of income from foreign exports, behind oil.Stoddard, Ellwyn R. Maquila: Assembly Plants in Northern Mexico. p. 2. Since 1973, maquiladoras have also accounted for nearly half of Mexico’s export assembly.Stoddard, Ellwyn R. Maquila: Assembly Plants in Northern Mexico. p. 2. Between 1995 and 2000, exports of assembled products in Mexico tripled, and the rate of the industry’s growth amounted to about one new factory per day.Shorris, Earl. The Life and Times of Mexico. p. 531. By the late twentieth century, the industry accounted for approximately 25 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product, and 17 percent of total Mexican employment.Hausman, Angela and Diana L Haytko. Cross-border Supply Chain Relationships: Interpretive Research of Maquiladora Realized Strategies. p. 25. However, profits generated from maquiladoras are typically sent back to the United States, or other investor-based countries, and therefore, maquiladoras do not promote direct economic development within Mexico.

Since globalization has contributed to the competition and advent of low-cost offshore assembly in places like Taiwan, China, and other countries in Central America, maquiladoras in Mexico have been on the decline since 2000.Shorris, Earl. The Life and Times of Mexico. p. 531. According to federal sources, approximately 529 maquiladoras shut down and investment in assembly plants decreased by 8.2 percent in 2002.Shorris, Earl. The Life and Times of Mexico. p. 531. Despite the decline, there still exist over 3,000 maquiladoras along the 2,000 mile-long United States–Mexico border, providing employment for approximately one million workers, and importing more than $51 billion in supplies into Mexico.Villalobos, J Rene, et al. Inbound for Mexico. p. 38. As of 2006, maquiladoras still account for 45 percent of Mexico’s exports. Gruben, William C. and Sherry L. Kiser. The Border Economy: NAFTA and Maquiladoras: Is the Growth Connected?

Border Industrialization Program Following the United States’ decision to eliminate the Bracero Program in 1964, the Mexican government introduced the Border Industrialization Program (BIP) in 1965, which contributed to the establishment of industries along the United States-Mexico border. The primary intentions of the BIP were to encourage industrialization in Mexican border regions, attract foreign investment to aid in Mexico’s economic development, and to reduce the unemployment rate along the Mexican side of the border.Stoddard, Ellwyn R. Maquila: Assembly Plants in Northern Mexico. p. 17. The BIP allows for duty-free importation of foreign products that will be manufactured or assembled in maquiladoras. The only fees would be placed on the value that was added to the particular product or service while in Mexico before being exported. Originally, the BIP included only a strip of 20 kilometers along the United States-Mexico border, but in the early 1980s, the original precepts of the BIP and the regulations surrounding the maquila industry were revised by the Mexican government so that the industry would not be confined to the Border States, but could expand throughout the entire country.Fatemi, Khosrow. The Maquiladora Industry: Economic Solution or Problem? p. 10.

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement, which was enacted in 1994, further eliminated tariffs and other barriers to trade between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. After the advent of NAFTA, the maquiladora industry expanded even more rapidly. While nearly every state in Mexico now has a maquiladora, the vast majority are still located along the United States-Mexico border.Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Oraganizing Since NAFTA. p. 3.

Controversies and Concerns Gender Mexico possesses a strong system of labor laws, yet enforcement of these laws within the maquiladora industry is often lax.Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA. p. 1. While most people who were employed under the original Bracero Program were men, the majority of maquiladora employees are women.Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA. p. 3. Women are considered to be preferred to men because women will typically work for cheaper wages, and are easier for male employers to direct and impose poor working conditions on. Some maquiladora operators have admitted a preference for women also because women often display a greater level of patience and higher dexterity than men in performing the standardized and repetitive work of an assembly plant. Therefore, the maquila industry has, based on these conditions, been accused of the sexual exploitation of women. On the other hand, opponents of this allegation argue that women are paid higher wages working in a maquiladora than they commonly would in other forms of employment in northern Mexico. In addition, some have argued that maquiladora employment enables women to make their own money and thus become more independent, while teaching them new skills and giving them more opportunities that they may not otherwise acquire.

The maquiladora operators have also been accused of discrimination of child-bearing-aged women in order to keep costs down because Mexico’s labor laws contain extensive maternity requirements. They often demand pregnancy tests as a prerequisite to employment or insist that female workers use birth control. Human Rights Watch. p. 31. If a woman is found to be pregnant, it may likely hinder her chances of getting hired, and if an existing worker becomes pregnant, she may be terminated.Human Rights Watch. p. 31.

In recent years, however, there has been a shift toward hiring more male workers due to labor shortages and the emergence of heavier industries operating within maquiladoras.

Low Wages, Long Hours One of the main goals of the BIP was to attract foreign investment. In order to do that, Mexican labor must remain cheap and competitive with other major export countries to keep the United States firms operating within the Mexican assembly plants. So to keep production high and costs low, maquiladoras have been accused of harsh working environments, which include low wages, forced overtime, and illegal working conditions for minors. Mexican women work for approximately one-sixth of the U.S. hourly rate.The Human Race: Escaping From History. It has also been reported that the income one receives from work in a maquiladora is rarely enough to support a family. Low wages are a main reason for foreign investment. However, some management personnel condone low wages in maquiladoras by arguing that the cost of living is lower in Mexico than in other countries. Employee turnover is also relatively high, reaching up to 80 percent in some maquiladoras, due in part to stress and health threats common to this type of labor.Kourous, George. Workers' Health is on the Line: Occupational Health and Safety in the Maquiladoras. p. 52.

Environmental Concerns Many of the environmental concerns, particularly in the border region of Mexico, are attributed to Mexico’s economic development strategies and intense industrialization. The dense number of maquiladoras and the inability of Mexico’s environmental regulatory program to keep up with the rapid growth of the industry over the past quarter of a century have contributed to some major environmental problems. Since many factories handle and use a number of toxic chemicals, solutions, and acids, the hazardous waste is a concern for both workers and residents surrounding maquiladoras. Pollution from the maquiladora industry is also a threat to the health of both United States and Mexican citizens. Both the United States and Mexican governments claim to be committed to environmental protection, yet environmental policies have not always been enforced.Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA. p. 42. Although the La Paz Agreement signed by Mexico and the United States in 1983, requires hazardous waste created by United States’ corporations to be transported back to the U.S. for disposal, many companies avoid paying disposal costs by dumping toxins and other waste into Mexico’s rivers or deserts. The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that only 91 of the 600 maquiladoras located along the Texas-Mexico border have returned waste to the United States since 1987.Kelly, Mary E. Free Trade: The Politics of Toxic Waste. p. 48.

Although NAFTA recognizes the need to prevent hazardous waste, Mexico’s waste imports have nearly doubled in recent years, and most of this waste comes from the United States.Clapp, Jennifer. Piles of Poisons: Despite NAFTA's Green Promises, Hazardous Waste Problems are Deepening in Mexico. p. 25. In Mexico, maquiladoras lack proper waste management facilities and the ability to clean up disposal sites, which is why much of the hazardous waste is illegally disposed of.Kely, Mary E. Free Trade: The Politics of Toxic Waste. p. 48. Local governments have financially not been able to provide basic waste management services because maquiladoras pay few taxes, and as a result, there is more of an economic incentive to illegally dump hazardous waste than to safely and properly dispose of it. Environmental hazards associated with maquiladoras include polluted rivers and contaminated drinking water. According to the Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP), all streams and rivers in the border region have suffered some amount of devastation as a consequence of the maquila industry.CorpWatch. Maquiladoras at a Glance. Furthermore, the United States Geological Survey, the state of California, and the Imperial County Health Department have all asserted the New River, which flows from Mexicali near the border to the Salton Sea in California to be "the dirtiest river in America".Sklair, Leslie. Assembling For Development: The Maquila Industry in Mexico and the United States. p. 94. Along with water contamination, health-threatening levels of pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, are also emitted into the air. Ongoing exposure to toxic wastes can contribute to health problems such as cancer, skin disease, hepatitis, and birth defects. Furthermore, Mexico does not have any laws requiring industries to publicize basic environmental data on their operations, and so Mexico does not keep a very accurate inventory of hazardous waste.Kelly, Mary E. Free Trade: The Politics of Toxic Waste. p. 48.

Maquiladoras in Popular Culture

Maquiladora is also a B Side recorded by the British alternative rock band, Radiohead. The track appears on the single release for High and Dry which was released in February of 1996. The track was considered for Radiohead's second LP titled The Bends.

"At the Drive-In" song Invalid Litter Dept. criticizes the work done at maquiladoras and the mysterious murders of some of their female employees.

See also

Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement
Economy of Mexico
Free Trade Area of the Americas
Free Trade
Globalization
List of international trade topics
Colonia (border settlement)
Sweatshop

External links

NAFTA Secretariat
Maquila Solidarity Network
Mexico Solidarity Network
Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy
Human Rights Watch
Hard Rock Music Video about Maquiladoras on the Internet Archive
Green Plastic-Radiohead Fan Site
Article on worker-run maquiladora in El Salvador

Footnotes Resources Brown, Garrett D. Protecting Workers’ Health and Safety in the Globalizing Economy through International Trade Treaties. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health. Apr-Jun 2005.

Campbell, Monica. Maquiladoras: Rethinking NAFTA. PBS, 2002.

Clapp, Jennifer. Piles of Poisons: Despite NAFTA’s Green Promises, Hazardous Waste Problems are Deepening in Mexico. Alternatives Journal. Waterloo: Spring 2002. Vol. 28, Iss. 2.

CorpWatch. Maquiladoras at a Glance. June 30, 1999. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=1528.

Fatemi, Khosrow. The Maquiladora Industry: Economic Solution or Problem? New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990.

Gruben, William C. and Sherry L. Kiser. The Border Economy: NAFTA and Maquiladoras: Is the Growth Connected? Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. June 2001.

Hampton, Elaine. Globalization Legacy: A View of U.S. Factory Involvement in Mexican Education. Multicultural Education. Summer 2004.

Hausman, Angela and Diana L. Haytko. Cross-Border Supply Chain Relationships: Interpretive Research of Maquiladora Realized Strategies. The Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing. Santa Barbara: 2003. Vol. 18, Iss. 6/7.

Human Rights Watch. No Guarantees: Sex Discrimination in Mexico’s Maquiladora Sector. The Maquiladora Reader. Philadelphia: Mexico-U.S. Border Program, 1999.

Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA. Philadelphia: Mexico-U.S. Border Program, 1999.

Kelly, Mary E. Free Trade: The Politics of Toxic Waste. The Maquiladora Reader. Philadelphia: Mexico-U.S. Border Program, 1999.

Reed, Cyrus. Hazardous Waste Management on the Border. The Maquiladora Reader. Philadelphia: Mexico-U.S. Border Program, 1999.

Shorris, Earl. The Life and Times of Mexico. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2004.

Sklair, Leslie. Assembling for Development: The Maquila Industry in Mexico and the United States. USA: Center for U.S. Mexican Studies, 1993.

Stoddard, Ellwyn R. Maquila: Assembly Plants in Northern Mexico. USA: Texas Western Press. 1987.

The Human Race: Escaping From History. dir. Josh Freed. Green Lion Productions Inc., videocassette, 1994.

Villalobos, J. Rene, et al., Inbound for Mexico. Industrial Engineer. Norcross: April 2004. Vol. 36, Iss. 4.

Wilson, Patricia A. Exports and Local Development: Mexico’s New Maquiladoras. USA: University of Texas Press, 1992.

A maquiladora or maquila is a factory that imports materials and equipment on a duty-free and tariff basis for assembly or manufacturing and then re-exports the assembled product, usually back to the originating country.

"Maquiladora" is primarily used to refer to factories in Mexico towns along the United States–Mexico border, but increasingly is used to refer to factories all over Latin America. Maquiladora factories encompass a variety of industries including electronics, transportation, textile, and machinery, among others. Maquiladoras may be 100% foreign-owned (usually by United States companies) in most countries. The use of maquiladoras is an example of offshoring. Other countries such as Japan, Germany, and Korea have maquiladoras as well, but the majority of them are located in Mexico and are associated with United States' companies.Hampton, Elaine. Globalization Legacy: A View of U.S. Factory Involvement in Mexican Education. p. 2.

The term "maquiladora", in the Spanish language, refers to the practice of millers charging a "maquila", or "miller's portion" for processing other people's grain.Wilson, Patricia A. Exports and Local Development: Mexico's New Maquiladoras. p. 139.

Growth and Development The first maquiladora in Mexico was established in Tecate, Baja California in the summer of 1964 by Angus Cannon Fox, Jr., at the urging of Bruno Pagliai, an Italian-born Mexican industrialist who, at the time, was married to screen actress Merle Oberon. Fox, then a resident of Sylmar, California, met with Pagliai in Mexico City after reading an article about him titled Modern Medici in the May 10, 1963 issue of Time Magazine. Fox investigated Tijuana and Ensenada as possible locations for his business venture, but settled on Tecate because of its immediate proximity to the U.S. border, its low volume of commercial traffic at the border crossing, and because it was largely free of the carnival-like tourist atmosphere and generally unsavory reputation that characterized Tijuana. The manufacturing business established by Fox, which was named Electrónica del Noroeste S.A., was housed in a large brick building that had earlier been a capacitor plant. Located several blocks to the west of the town's beer factory on the same street, but opposite side, the building was leveled in the mid-nineties. The building’s slab and some asphalt floor tile were all that remained in 2005, with a bustling open-air market and small shops covering the site. While operating, the factory was equipped with Leesona 107 and 108 stick coil winders, George Stevens bobbin winders, band saws for singulating stick-wound coils, coalescing equipment for compressing the ends of singulated coils, vacuum equipment for impregnating singulated coils with varnish, and industrial ovens for baking the varnish-impregnated coils. Electrónica del Noroeste S.A. produced primarily transformers and solenoids for the U.S. market, and its customers included McCann's Engineering and Manufacturing Company (a Los Angeles manufacturer of soft drink dispensing machines), Friden Corporation (a San Leandro-based manufacturer of electromechanical calculators and other automated office equipment), and Hewlett-Packard Corporation. After Electrónica del Noroeste was sold to Genisco Technology, Inc. in 1968, Fox established another maquiladora in Tecate named, simply, Maquiladora Tecate. Located on the outskirts of town on the Ensenada highway in a building, landscaped with two palm trees, that had been a night club, Maquiladora Tecate manufactured similar products, as well as trigger coils for Honeywell photo strobe flashes and core memory used in early generations of mainframe computers. The latter business was closed shortly after Fox was killed on the evening of May 15, 1971 when his Cessna 172E (N5678T) crashed and burned following engine failure while on final approach to Gillespie Field over mountains to the east. The building was subsequently used as a mattress factory until it caught fire in the late seventies. Only the wood-framed office that Fox had added at the front of the building survived intact. The dilapidated office, inhabited by squatters, and the two palm trees were all that remained in 2005. Fox’ daughter, Claudia, is married to U.S. Congressman Chris Cannon, an outspoken proponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

During the latter half of the sixties, maquiladora industries rapidly expanded both geographically and economically and by 1985, had become Mexico’s second largest source of income from foreign exports, behind oil.Stoddard, Ellwyn R. Maquila: Assembly Plants in Northern Mexico. p. 2. Since 1973, maquiladoras have also accounted for nearly half of Mexico’s export assembly.Stoddard, Ellwyn R. Maquila: Assembly Plants in Northern Mexico. p. 2. Between 1995 and 2000, exports of assembled products in Mexico tripled, and the rate of the industry’s growth amounted to about one new factory per day.Shorris, Earl. The Life and Times of Mexico. p. 531. By the late twentieth century, the industry accounted for approximately 25 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product, and 17 percent of total Mexican employment.Hausman, Angela and Diana L Haytko. Cross-border Supply Chain Relationships: Interpretive Research of Maquiladora Realized Strategies. p. 25. However, profits generated from maquiladoras are typically sent back to the United States, or other investor-based countries, and therefore, maquiladoras do not promote direct economic development within Mexico.

Since globalization has contributed to the competition and advent of low-cost offshore assembly in places like Taiwan, China, and other countries in Central America, maquiladoras in Mexico have been on the decline since 2000.Shorris, Earl. The Life and Times of Mexico. p. 531. According to federal sources, approximately 529 maquiladoras shut down and investment in assembly plants decreased by 8.2 percent in 2002.Shorris, Earl. The Life and Times of Mexico. p. 531. Despite the decline, there still exist over 3,000 maquiladoras along the 2,000 mile-long United States–Mexico border, providing employment for approximately one million workers, and importing more than $51 billion in supplies into Mexico.Villalobos, J Rene, et al. Inbound for Mexico. p. 38. As of 2006, maquiladoras still account for 45 percent of Mexico’s exports. Gruben, William C. and Sherry L. Kiser. The Border Economy: NAFTA and Maquiladoras: Is the Growth Connected?

Border Industrialization Program Following the United States’ decision to eliminate the Bracero Program in 1964, the Mexican government introduced the Border Industrialization Program (BIP) in 1965, which contributed to the establishment of industries along the United States-Mexico border. The primary intentions of the BIP were to encourage industrialization in Mexican border regions, attract foreign investment to aid in Mexico’s economic development, and to reduce the unemployment rate along the Mexican side of the border.Stoddard, Ellwyn R. Maquila: Assembly Plants in Northern Mexico. p. 17. The BIP allows for duty-free importation of foreign products that will be manufactured or assembled in maquiladoras. The only fees would be placed on the value that was added to the particular product or service while in Mexico before being exported. Originally, the BIP included only a strip of 20 kilometers along the United States-Mexico border, but in the early 1980s, the original precepts of the BIP and the regulations surrounding the maquila industry were revised by the Mexican government so that the industry would not be confined to the Border States, but could expand throughout the entire country.Fatemi, Khosrow. The Maquiladora Industry: Economic Solution or Problem? p. 10.

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement, which was enacted in 1994, further eliminated tariffs and other barriers to trade between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. After the advent of NAFTA, the maquiladora industry expanded even more rapidly. While nearly every state in Mexico now has a maquiladora, the vast majority are still located along the United States-Mexico border.Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Oraganizing Since NAFTA. p. 3.

Controversies and Concerns Gender Mexico possesses a strong system of labor laws, yet enforcement of these laws within the maquiladora industry is often lax.Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA. p. 1. While most people who were employed under the original Bracero Program were men, the majority of maquiladora employees are women.Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA. p. 3. Women are considered to be preferred to men because women will typically work for cheaper wages, and are easier for male employers to direct and impose poor working conditions on. Some maquiladora operators have admitted a preference for women also because women often display a greater level of patience and higher dexterity than men in performing the standardized and repetitive work of an assembly plant. Therefore, the maquila industry has, based on these conditions, been accused of the sexual exploitation of women. On the other hand, opponents of this allegation argue that women are paid higher wages working in a maquiladora than they commonly would in other forms of employment in northern Mexico. In addition, some have argued that maquiladora employment enables women to make their own money and thus become more independent, while teaching them new skills and giving them more opportunities that they may not otherwise acquire.

The maquiladora operators have also been accused of discrimination of child-bearing-aged women in order to keep costs down because Mexico’s labor laws contain extensive maternity requirements. They often demand pregnancy tests as a prerequisite to employment or insist that female workers use birth control. Human Rights Watch. p. 31. If a woman is found to be pregnant, it may likely hinder her chances of getting hired, and if an existing worker becomes pregnant, she may be terminated.Human Rights Watch. p. 31.

In recent years, however, there has been a shift toward hiring more male workers due to labor shortages and the emergence of heavier industries operating within maquiladoras.

Low Wages, Long Hours One of the main goals of the BIP was to attract foreign investment. In order to do that, Mexican labor must remain cheap and competitive with other major export countries to keep the United States firms operating within the Mexican assembly plants. So to keep production high and costs low, maquiladoras have been accused of harsh working environments, which include low wages, forced overtime, and illegal working conditions for minors. Mexican women work for approximately one-sixth of the U.S. hourly rate.The Human Race: Escaping From History. It has also been reported that the income one receives from work in a maquiladora is rarely enough to support a family. Low wages are a main reason for foreign investment. However, some management personnel condone low wages in maquiladoras by arguing that the cost of living is lower in Mexico than in other countries. Employee turnover is also relatively high, reaching up to 80 percent in some maquiladoras, due in part to stress and health threats common to this type of labor.Kourous, George. Workers' Health is on the Line: Occupational Health and Safety in the Maquiladoras. p. 52.

Environmental Concerns Many of the environmental concerns, particularly in the border region of Mexico, are attributed to Mexico’s economic development strategies and intense industrialization. The dense number of maquiladoras and the inability of Mexico’s environmental regulatory program to keep up with the rapid growth of the industry over the past quarter of a century have contributed to some major environmental problems. Since many factories handle and use a number of toxic chemicals, solutions, and acids, the hazardous waste is a concern for both workers and residents surrounding maquiladoras. Pollution from the maquiladora industry is also a threat to the health of both United States and Mexican citizens. Both the United States and Mexican governments claim to be committed to environmental protection, yet environmental policies have not always been enforced.Kamel, Rachel and Anya Hoffman. The Maquiladora reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA. p. 42. Although the La Paz Agreement signed by Mexico and the United States in 1983, requires hazardous waste created by United States’ corporations to be transported back to the U.S. for disposal, many companies avoid paying disposal costs by dumping toxins and other waste into Mexico’s rivers or deserts. The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that only 91 of the 600 maquiladoras located along the Texas-Mexico border have returned waste to the United States since 1987.Kelly, Mary E. Free Trade: The Politics of Toxic Waste. p. 48.

Although NAFTA recognizes the need to prevent hazardous waste, Mexico’s waste imports have nearly doubled in recent years, and most of this waste comes from the United States.Clapp, Jennifer. Piles of Poisons: Despite NAFTA's Green Promises, Hazardous Waste Problems are Deepening in Mexico. p. 25. In Mexico, maquiladoras lack proper waste management facilities and the ability to clean up disposal sites, which is why much of the hazardous waste is illegally disposed of.Kely, Mary E. Free Trade: The Politics of Toxic Waste. p. 48. Local governments have financially not been able to provide basic waste management services because maquiladoras pay few taxes, and as a result, there is more of an economic incentive to illegally dump hazardous waste than to safely and properly dispose of it. Environmental hazards associated with maquiladoras include polluted rivers and contaminated drinking water. According to the Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP), all streams and rivers in the border region have suffered some amount of devastation as a consequence of the maquila industry.CorpWatch. Maquiladoras at a Glance. Furthermore, the United States Geological Survey, the state of California, and the Imperial County Health Department have all asserted the New River, which flows from Mexicali near the border to the Salton Sea in California to be "the dirtiest river in America".Sklair, Leslie. Assembling For Development: The Maquila Industry in Mexico and the United States. p. 94. Along with water contamination, health-threatening levels of pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, are also emitted into the air. Ongoing exposure to toxic wastes can contribute to health problems such as cancer, skin disease, hepatitis, and birth defects. Furthermore, Mexico does not have any laws requiring industries to publicize basic environmental data on their operations, and so Mexico does not keep a very accurate inventory of hazardous waste.Kelly, Mary E. Free Trade: The Politics of Toxic Waste. p. 48.

Maquiladoras in Popular Culture

Maquiladora is also a B Side recorded by the British alternative rock band, Radiohead. The track appears on the single release for High and Dry which was released in February of 1996. The track was considered for Radiohead's second LP titled The Bends.

"At the Drive-In" song Invalid Litter Dept. criticizes the work done at maquiladoras and the mysterious murders of some of their female employees.