Back to the Future: Sweatshop Conditions on the Mexico-U.S. Border II. Occupational Health Impact of Maquiladora Industrial Activity

Details

• Personal Author:
  Levenstein C ; MacDonald L ; Moure-Eraso R ; Punnett, Laura ; Wilcox M
• Description:
  Present working conditions in one of the most active areas of the maquiladora system along the Mexico-U.S. border are reminiscent of nineteenth-century U.S. sweatshops. The organization of production is Tayloristic and authoritarian, with detailed division of labor, repetitive simple tasks, and piecework wages. Modern participative management styles are not apparent in the maquiladora setting. This study consists of two separate but interrelated surveys conducted in 1992, one of community leaders and this one of workers in maquiladora enterprises in the towns of Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico. The community survey evaluated the economic and psychosocial impact of the maquiladora enterprise and was conducted simultaneously to the workers' survey and in the same Mexican towns where the workers lived and worked. The community leaders acknowledged the employment opportunities that maquiladora factories had brought to the region but believed them to have high environmental and psychosocial costs. For the occupational component, a community-based survey of 267 maquiladora workers was conducted. participants were chosen with more than a year seniority in the industry and living in the two Mexican cities surveyed. They responded to an extensive questionnaire given by trained canvassers. The workers' survey found evidence that maquiladora workers (81% female) report symptoms from musculoskeletal disorders related to working conditions. Acute health effects compatible with chemical exposures were also identified. Prevalence of symptoms was correlated with increasing duration of exposure to ergonomic risk factors and qualitative chemical exposure indexes. Other chronic disease was not apparent. The survey demonstrated inequalities in salary, working hours, and safety training between the two communities. Matamoros workers are substantially better paid and work fewer hours per week than Reynosa workers. Most hazards reported in the worker's survey have been well studied in the general occupational health literature with respect to adverse health effects. Therefore, it is recommended that hazard surveillance studies would be more useful towards the goal of prevention than further etiologic studies. Specific recommendations on policy and remediation interventions are also made. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Ergonomics Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Maquiladoras Demographic Characteristics Manual Materials Handling Musculoskeletal System Disorders Occupational Health Risk Analysis Risk Factors Risk Perception Sociological Factors Work Environment Work Operations Workplace Monitoring Workplace Studies Workshops

  More +
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  31
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023322
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 1997 May; 31(5):587-599
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Rafeal Moure-Eraso, Work Enviroment Department, One University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Intervention Effectiveness Research ; Work Environment and Workforce: Special Populations
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:86ac49eeb43d0352c5cafc72cfa68b6bde746cd7fec45db2b939b9ade97edf74ad19f9bda236b3caba6d2aa0fe4858667c07ab2e2cc4e4cf5ccdb7a448dc16a9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195828/cdc_195828_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 72.10 KB ]