Mexico

I travelled this past weekend to Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico - just across the border from McAllen Texas and the Lower Rio Grande (known as the Rio Bravo in Mexico). I travelled with a group called Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera with the express purpose of visiting workers from the many maquiladores (factories or assembly plants) that have sprung up along the border after the passage of NAFTA. We toured some of the major industrial parks by vehicle (security kept us moving) and met with workers from companies that should be familiar to most Americans. Some of the major companies that I saw in the area were Delphi, Maytag and Nokia - but there must have been hundreds taking advantage of relatively low-wage workers and permissive labor law enforcement - not to mention the tax breaks and lack of environmental protections.

Our tour was arranged by Austin Tan Cerca but really lead by a group that organizes on the Mexican side of the border with Texas called Comité Fronterizo de Obreras. The effects of globalization were made real with a tour of the industrial parts of the city, followed by a tour of a neighborhood where many of the workers lived. The industrial areas were simply huge warehouse-like buildings with manicured lawns all around. The homes were often along dirt roads and made of concrete bricks, without air-conditioning. One neighborhood was still recovering from the damage of several feet of flood waters.

On the border the wages are low but the cost of living is high. We heard of accidents, in one plant where a man's leg was slashed by an old piece of machinery and another man's finger was cut off; Where workers were ordered to wear a specific type of clothing but not given the funds to pay for that clothing - even when it cost more than a week's pay; Where workers were told to go to a specific doctor so companies could avoid reporting accidents. The organizers laid out clearly how a family of four could just barely survive on the wages they made as long as everyone stayed healthy and nothing critical to making food or getting to and from work broke down.

One view is that all this exploitation was so that Americans can get cheaper prices on electronics and appliances. But I think the more constructive view and the one held by the most knowledgeable workers and organizers is that it is all so that a handful of executives and industrialists can get rich.

After returning from Reynosa I spent a couple of days in Corpus Christi with family. There is a new H-E-B Plus there in a mini-mall, chain-restaurant, six-lane-road, rapidly growing part of the city. (H-E-B is the major grocery chain in Texas; the letters stand for the initials of the founder of the company, Henry Edward Butt). I was told it has furniture, a lawn and garden section, a bank, a cafe with comfortable chairs, and there may be some milk and eggs near the back. It has almost everything. (I was disappointed to discover it had no automotive repair center.) Yet, somehow video stores, Supercuts, Montana Mikes and many other park and spend businesses survived all around.

South Texas was excessively humid and rainy, which I enjoyed as a change of pace. The sun came out a bit, illuminating lush vegitation, towering clouds and sworms of butterflies. It was good to be home despite the free market.