The Nogales Experience!

   Last week I went to Nogales, Mexico on a field trip for a migration and culture class at Arizona State University West.  The trip was headed by a group named Borderlinks and is designed to educate the class and others about issues surrounding migration and culture.  I observed and learned many things on this trip, there was so much that we experienced in one day!  However, for the scope of this paper I would like to focus on some key experiences.  The two most memorable experiences of this trip for me happened to be visiting the maquiladoras and our discussion over dinner with a   man named Kiko Trujillo. 

  

 We drove through the parts of Nogales that I had never seen before on my earlier trips to the city on our way to the maquiladora.  Everywhere I looked out the van window on our way there was poverty stricken.  The city seemed much busier than I remember as a young man when I visited with my family to do typical tourist things like buying blankets and other trinkets. 

   Upon arriving at the maquiladora we were told that we would have to wait a while by the Borderlinks staff while they contacted representatives from the company that was named Amphenol.  I killed some time in the parking lot talking with classmates and looking around.  The factory seemed pretty normal from the outside, except to me it seemed somewhat out of place surrounded by such poverty.

 As I waited I thought about an article I read on the way to Tucson entitled “We Are Not Machines: Corporations That Bring Jobs Must Bring Justice Too", by Maria Torres.  Maria Torres worked in the maquiladora industry for eighteen years and described the industry as being problematic to the Mexican people who work in them.  She made $27 dollars for a 40 hour work week and described how she would have to work for 3 ½ hours to afford a gallon of milk.  She also stated that many people working in and living around maquiladoras suffered from health related issues. 

   Torres was eventually educated about her rights and was able to organize and help improve working conditions in some of the maqilas over the years.  Torres ended her article by saying that she’s grateful for the work that the companies bring to Mexico, however she believes that they have a responsibility to bring justice with them.

   With these thoughts lingering in my mind I wondered if we would see or hear of some of these injustices she described in her article.  Eventually we were permitted to enter the facility and were herded into a boardroom with no windows for a question and answer session with a human resources representative from the company.  Many questions were asked by the class.  What do the workers earn?  What does the company manufacture?  How long has the company been in Nogales?  Does the company give pregnancy tests to their employees? How long is the work week?  Does the company pay taxes?

   In actuality I do think that I heard some things that could be described as being unjust.  The workers earned $7.00 dollars per day making electrical connectors of all sorts.  The work week consists of 6 days for a total of 48 hours and they do still give pregnancy tests to their employees but not all of the time according to the representative.  The company has been in Nogales for about 25 years and the representative stated that they pay taxes but I received conflicting information from others later in the trip that stated that they do not.

   At dinner we were presented with an opportunity to speak with Kiko Trujillo.  Kiko Trujillo is an ex-maquiladora employee who was fortunate to work his way up in the ranks and eventually into management (very rare in the maquiladoras) to then have them not want him any more because he spoke of the injustices he saw in them.  Kiko Trujillo is now the Mexican Director of Borderlinks.  Kiko Trujillo placed a lot of ownership of the problems that exist in Mexico on Mexico.  However, he also spoke of things like NAFTA.  He stated that NAFTA was presented to Mexico at a time when they were not ready.  He said, “In reality NAFTA was not designed to help the economy of Mexico”. Kiko further stated that Mexico can not rely on the maquiladoras and talked about how the profit being made by these multinational organizations is not staying in Mexico.  He mentioned how they did not have to pay any taxes to the city of Nogales which conflicted with the information I received from the representative at the maquiladora earlier.

   Another article that I read prior to the trip paralleled some of what Kiko Trujillo had to say.  The article entitled “Glimpsing the Future: Why Christians Must Resist The Global economy”, was written by Rick Ufford-Chase (International Director, Borderlinks).   Rick Ufford-Chase describes the poverty stricken city of Ambos Nogales vividly.  Ambos means both in Spanish, he uses this to describe Nogales on both sides of the border.  Rick Ufford-Chase describes Nogales as being a city of desperation caught in the grasp of the global economy.  He describes the border as being a place that is necessary to maintain Mexico’s “advantage” (as he calls it) in the global economy.  He states that the foreign corporations operating in Mexico have increased, but the buying power of the minimum-wage salary hasn’t been able to keep up.  He also speaks about NAFTA and states that “At the time NAFTA was being negotiated, there were only two Mexican officials to enforce environmental and worker-safety standards for all the businesses and industry in the entire state of Sonora”. 

   In conclusion, the trip that we took to Nogales will forever be a memorable one for me.  My perspective on these issues described will also forever be affected by the trip.  I have a lot to learn and I am eager to continue learning about these issues that are important to us all, on all sides of the border.  I have seen and hope to be able to continue seeing a little more of the truth.