Indigenous Women Convene Summit in Mexico
Women's Enews
Run Date: 12/02/02
By Laurence Pantin
WEnews correspondent
A first-of-its-kind meeting will ask indigenous women what obstacles are in their way of good health and educational opportunities--and how they think governments should address their needs.
MEXICO CITY (WOMENSENEWS)--Silvia de Jesus Maya never had the chance to go to school. Maya, a Mazahua Indian, started working when she was a girl, married when she was 14, and had the first of her four children when she was 16. It was only after living through police repression, stone throwers who mocked her traditional dress and the unsolved murder of her father by thieves in 1996 that she decided to learn how to read and write so that she could defend herself, her family and her people from discrimination. By then, she was 37 years old.
Maya founded el grupo Mansion Mazahua, A.C. (the Mazahua House Group) in Mexico City, where indigenous women study together and advocate for education and housing for their communities. This week, 260 indigenous women like her are in Oaxaca, Mexico, to brainstorm about how to increase the political representation of Latin America's 25 million indigenous women and improve their health, literacy and treatment on the job.
Mexico has no national plan that specifically addresses the problems of its indigenous women, says Alfonso Alem, executive director of the Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation, which organized this first Indigenous Women Summit of the Americas from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4. Indigenous women are directed to programs for women living in poverty, as if "poor" and "indigenous" are synonyms, Alem says.
And, what government help there is, is useless, adds Maya, a resident of Mexico City since she was 2 years old.
"On the contrary, it makes us vulnerable," she says. "The most important thing that the government should give to indigenous peoples is education and work projects, instead of giving money."
Indigenous Women Are Invisible to Researchers
The scant research on the status of indigenous women in Latin America speaks to their lack of visibility, Alem says.
"If we look at the rates relating to heath, mortality, birth or education, the most terrible numbers are always concentrated on indigenous women," says Paloma Bonfil, coordinator of indigenous women's programs at the Mexican president's Office for Indigenous Affairs. Based on her nationwide investigations, Bonfil estimates that more than 87 percent of indigenous women older than 15 are illiterate, compared with 51 percent of indigenous men. Similarly, life expectancy for indigenous women in Mexico is 71.5 years, compared to 76 years for their male counterparts.
Indigenous women elsewhere in Latin America have a similar quality of life, says Xochitl Galvez, head of the indigenous affairs office. Indigenous women are the poorest of the poor, she says: Because of their limited education, these women often aren't even aware of their basic rights and are consequently exploited, receiving lower wages if they are paid at all. Indigenous women also lack access to health services, are often victims of domestic violence and generally work longer hours due to lack of infrastructure in their villages. Because many of these villages lack water and electricity, women must walk long distances to get water and scavenge for firewood, Galvez says.
An Otomi Indian herself, Galvez was the victim of intense discrimination when, as a teen-ager, she arrived from her village in Mexico City. While she managed to get a job as a telephone operator, she got fired because of her sing-song accent, she recalled.
"This is really triple discrimination: being poor, being a woman and being indigenous," she says.
Summit Hear Directly from Indigenous Women
This discrimination is one of the reasons why Galvez's office has designed four specific development policies for indigenous women, directing them into education and job-building programs. She says these programs depart from the "paternalistic" policies of previous administrations, which kept women dependent on government programs that distributed food and money.
The latest programs are still quite new and haven't had time yet to prove whether they're effective or not. And up until now, they have been region-specific, says Bonfil, who is planning to make these programs national next year.
One of the summit's tasks is precisely to evaluate governmental programs. Fifty observers from governments, nongovernmental organizations, academia and international institutions are attending the summit, noting what programs are and are not successful at lifting people out of poverty, at attending to indigenous women's needs and at reducing the discrimination against them.
The summit "is an ample space for exchanging experiences between the protagonists themselves," says Alem, "but it is also an opportunity for dialoguing with governments, international organizations, agencies, NGOs--so many institutions that design, create and apply costly policies without ever asking anything of anyone."
Laurence Pantin is Women's Enews' correspondent in Mexico City.
For more information:
First Indigenous Women Summit of the Americas(in English and Spanish): http://www.mujeresindigenas.net/index.html
Fundacion Rigoberta Menchu Tum (The Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation for the rights of indigenous people)(in Spanish):http://www.rigobertamenchu.org/
Oficina para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indigines(Mexican Presidency's Office for Indigenous Affairs)(in Spanish): http://indigenas.presidencia.gob.mx/
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1129/context/archive
lunes, 2 de diciembre de 2002
viernes, 22 de noviembre de 2002
En inglés - Sobre las mujeres asesinadas en Ciudad Juárez
Criminal Neglect
Death stalks the maquiladoras
In These Times
November 22, 2002
By Laurence Pantin
Mexico City—More than 280 women have been found dead in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juárez over the past decade, almost half in brutal murders that remain unsolved.
As the number of women murdered in Ciudad Juárez continues to rise, an international human rights commission has held its second hearing on the issue. On October 18, representatives of the Mexican government appeared before the the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a branch of the Organization of American States, to explain their failure to find and prosecute the perpetrators and prevent more women from dying. Just two days after the hearing, what seemed to be the remains of another woman were found half-buried on a secondary road near Juárez, in the state of Chihuahua, adding to four others discovered in the past month.
“The government is saying they’re doing something about it, but in the meantime, women keep dying,” says Ximena Andión, lawyer for the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.
Although police have yet to confirm the age or identity of the latest body, the circumstances of its discovery and the women’s clothes detected on the scene seem to indicate the woman may be one more victim of the homicides that have plagued Ciudad Juárez since 1993.
Because of a lack of statistical information from Mexican police, it is difficult to say exactly how many women have been murdered here. Yet Rosario Acosta, founder of May Our Daughters Return Home, a Juárez-based association gathering relatives of the missing and assassinated women, estimates that 284 bodies have been discovered and that many more women are missing.
Most of these women were beaten or raped before being killed, and about 110 of the victims were found tortured or mutilated. Their deaths are considered serial murders by the state attorney general’s office. Motives for the deaths are unclear—since most of the killings remain unsolved—but hypotheses range from drug or organ trafficking to prostitution or snuff movies.
Activists say a pattern of neglect has characterized state and local investigations into the murders. Only one man has been convicted for the murder of a woman in Juárez; his sentence was later suspended because of irregularities during the trial. A dozen more suspects have been arrested, some of whom have been awaiting trial since 1996. But most of those suspects claim they were tortured and forced to confess.
In addition, a 1998 report by the Mexican National Human Rights Commission, based on analysis of police files, denounced the lack of serious investigation into the crimes by local authorities. According to the government agency’s report, some files were missing crucial information, such as pictures of the corpse that could lead to later identification. In other cases, the police’s determination of the cause of the death did not correspond to forensic reports. “Irregularities keep happening in the investigations,” Andión says. One of the latest bodies to be discovered was initially identified as a woman already found dead last November.
Most of the victims were very young, and 80 percent worked in maquiladoras, Acosta adds. “They were poor and vulnerable women,” from risky parts of the city without safe public transportation or paved and lighted streets. “It seems justice in our state is designed to be inaccessible to poor people,” she says.
Last November, Andión’s group, along with 300 civil organizations, asked the Inter-American Commission to review the unsolved murders in Ciudad Juárez. The commission held a first hearing on the case last March. As a result, the Mexican government promised to implement a number of proposals to solve the cases. But the measures seem disproportionately weak in comparison to the problem. “The government … wants to install working groups to dialogue,” says Acosta, “when it’s been 10 years of this tragedy.”
“There’s no real political will to do something that really puts an end to the killings and solve the cases,” concludes Lidia Alpizar, coordinator of the “Stop the Impunity: No More Killings!” campaign. “And in the meantime, bodies keep appearing.”
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/296/
Death stalks the maquiladoras
In These Times
November 22, 2002
By Laurence Pantin
Mexico City—More than 280 women have been found dead in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juárez over the past decade, almost half in brutal murders that remain unsolved.
As the number of women murdered in Ciudad Juárez continues to rise, an international human rights commission has held its second hearing on the issue. On October 18, representatives of the Mexican government appeared before the the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a branch of the Organization of American States, to explain their failure to find and prosecute the perpetrators and prevent more women from dying. Just two days after the hearing, what seemed to be the remains of another woman were found half-buried on a secondary road near Juárez, in the state of Chihuahua, adding to four others discovered in the past month.
“The government is saying they’re doing something about it, but in the meantime, women keep dying,” says Ximena Andión, lawyer for the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.
Although police have yet to confirm the age or identity of the latest body, the circumstances of its discovery and the women’s clothes detected on the scene seem to indicate the woman may be one more victim of the homicides that have plagued Ciudad Juárez since 1993.
Because of a lack of statistical information from Mexican police, it is difficult to say exactly how many women have been murdered here. Yet Rosario Acosta, founder of May Our Daughters Return Home, a Juárez-based association gathering relatives of the missing and assassinated women, estimates that 284 bodies have been discovered and that many more women are missing.
Most of these women were beaten or raped before being killed, and about 110 of the victims were found tortured or mutilated. Their deaths are considered serial murders by the state attorney general’s office. Motives for the deaths are unclear—since most of the killings remain unsolved—but hypotheses range from drug or organ trafficking to prostitution or snuff movies.
Activists say a pattern of neglect has characterized state and local investigations into the murders. Only one man has been convicted for the murder of a woman in Juárez; his sentence was later suspended because of irregularities during the trial. A dozen more suspects have been arrested, some of whom have been awaiting trial since 1996. But most of those suspects claim they were tortured and forced to confess.
In addition, a 1998 report by the Mexican National Human Rights Commission, based on analysis of police files, denounced the lack of serious investigation into the crimes by local authorities. According to the government agency’s report, some files were missing crucial information, such as pictures of the corpse that could lead to later identification. In other cases, the police’s determination of the cause of the death did not correspond to forensic reports. “Irregularities keep happening in the investigations,” Andión says. One of the latest bodies to be discovered was initially identified as a woman already found dead last November.
Most of the victims were very young, and 80 percent worked in maquiladoras, Acosta adds. “They were poor and vulnerable women,” from risky parts of the city without safe public transportation or paved and lighted streets. “It seems justice in our state is designed to be inaccessible to poor people,” she says.
Last November, Andión’s group, along with 300 civil organizations, asked the Inter-American Commission to review the unsolved murders in Ciudad Juárez. The commission held a first hearing on the case last March. As a result, the Mexican government promised to implement a number of proposals to solve the cases. But the measures seem disproportionately weak in comparison to the problem. “The government … wants to install working groups to dialogue,” says Acosta, “when it’s been 10 years of this tragedy.”
“There’s no real political will to do something that really puts an end to the killings and solve the cases,” concludes Lidia Alpizar, coordinator of the “Stop the Impunity: No More Killings!” campaign. “And in the meantime, bodies keep appearing.”
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/296/
martes, 6 de agosto de 2002
En inglés - Sobre la discriminación hacia las mujeres en el trabajo
Mexicans Seeking to Outlaw Workplace Gender Bias
Women's Enews
Run Date: 08/06/02
By Laurence Pantin
WEnews correspondent
Women's rights activists are urging Mexico's President Fox to support reform of labor laws to bar sex bias in the workplace. Also, in Pennsylvania, a judge lifted a court order and permitted a woman to have an abortion opposed by her companion.
MEXICO CITY (WOMENSENEWS)--Attorney Julia Perez has represented many women who were sexually harassed at work, but one in particular stands out.
Her client, a local government employee, was called into the office of one of her bosses when he heard that she had bought a new dress the day before.
The man asked her to try the dress on for him, and as she was putting it on top of her clothes, he asked her whether she had already been paid.
When the woman said that she hadn't, he asked her to remove her clothes to try on the dress. If she did so, he said, he'd make sure she'd be paid that day.
When Perez's client refused, he tried to kiss her, removed her clothes and asked her to kiss his penis.
The employee managed to leave the room and immediately told another office manager what had happened. The manager told her that she was responsible for her boss's behavior.
Women who have suffered from such abuses would like to speak up about the discrimination they've been subjected to and put an end to it, Perez says.
"The problem is that the law, as it is now, doesn't enable you to put an end" to this type of behavior, she says. "On the contrary, it almost guarantees you you'll end up losing your case." She added that that the woman didn't file a complaint to the police because she believed she did not have enough evidence to prove her case.
Advocates Argue for Labor Reform with a 'Gender Perspective'
For that reason, feminists and union activists here are proposing reforms to the Mexican federal labor law that would take into account the hurdles working women face every day.
They are advocating that the Mexican labor law assert the right of women to work in all sectors, as well as their right to equal pay for equal work. Their proposal also would give more protection to working mothers by requiring that employers maintain their job security and seniority after a pregnancy.
The "proposal of labor reform with a gender perspective" comes as business and union representatives negotiate with President Vicente Fox over updates to the country's labor law, originally passed in 1931 and last reformed in 1974.
All sectors in Mexico agree that a reform to this law, which has been intended for almost 10 years, is urgent, even though they strongly disagree on how it should be modified.
Proponents of the gender-sensitive reform say women should take part in the debate since the 13.2 million working women in Mexico--about 35 percent of the country's workers--are more and more often victims of multiple forms of discrimination.
The proposal if it became law would also prohibit companies from requiring women to take pregnancy tests when they apply for a position or to fire women because they're expecting a child. Furthermore, it would include a precise definition of sexual harassment, declare it illegal and hold employers responsible for failing to eliminate harassment.
Labor Secretary Inspires Ire of Women's Rights Advocates
When Mexico's federal labor law was approved in 1931, few women worked and the Mexican Constitution didn't give women the right to vote, much less the right to participate in the political debate over their own rights.
"We thought it was important to participate and present a reform proposal that takes into account working women's long-standing demands," said Ines Gonzalez, head of the Federacion Nacional de Sindicatos Bancarios (National Federation of Bank Workers' Unions), who helped craft the proposal.
"We thought that if we remained on the side and didn't give our opinion, they were likely to invite us at the federal labor law's funeral," she said, referring to the government and business sector.
The groups pushing for reform are now trying to find political support, said Ortiz. They have presented their proposal to the Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres (National Women's Institute), a federal institution that promotes gender equity and women's rights, as well as to the Union Nacional de Trabajadores (National Union of Workers), a federation of independent unions. These associations are also seeking the support of main political parties and are hoping to present their proposal to the commissions on equity and gender of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Reformers were spurred to action last year, when the current government's labor secretary, Carlos Abascal, delivered a speech on International Women's Day in which he described women's "specific vocation as mothers and spouses."
"Some women experience the temptation to liberate themselves from what constitutes their specific vocation as mothers and spouses, since one of the tendencies of the modern world is to highlight rights, forgetting that to every right corresponds a duty," Abascal said at the time. "A real promotion of women requires from our society a re-evaluation and recognition of maternal and family-related tasks, because these have a greater value than all other tasks and public professions."
Discrimination against working women in Mexico starts before women are hired, said Rosario Ortiz, coordinator of the Network of Union Women, since women seeking a job often have to take a pregnancy test and are not hired if the results come back positive. Once hired, many women are fired if they tell their employer that they are expecting a child, added said Cecilia Talamante, coordinator of the Grupo de Educacion Popular con Mujeres, A.C. (Popular Education Group for Women), which helped create the proposal.
"In the case of maquiladoras--and this has been documented--they even keep track of their workers' menstruations," she said, referring to foreign-owned assembly plants. Employers usually use another pretext to fire pregnant women, who usually cannot prove they've been fired for their pregnancy, Talamante added.
Mexico's Department of Labor, has no statistics to support Talamante's allegations.
Battle Has Two Fronts: Employers, Unions
The segregated labor market is another hidden form of discrimination, Ortiz said. Women tend to work in traditionally female activities that pay less. Government studies show that while working women have a higher education than working men on average, they earn only 75 percent of what men earn. Even when they are hired in sectors where men and women are equally represented, said Gonzalez, women stay at the lowest positions and find it much more difficult to get promoted.
Finally, sexual harassment in the workplace remains an issue many women have to cope with and can hardly denounce, said Talamante. Sexual harassment in the workplace affects three of every four working women, and of these, 40 percent leave their job because of the harassment, according to the information provided by the groups behind the reform proposal.
In addition, gender discrimination also exists in unions, where women's participation is minimal, according to Gonzalez.
"As women," she said, "we have to take on a double fight: the fight against the boss, the company, to obtain better working conditions, and the fight against our own co-workers, who sometimes take us into account, but usually ignore us."
Laurence Pantin is Women's Enews' correspondent in Mexico City.
For more information:
Grupo de Educacion Popular con Mujeres, A.C.(In Spanish):http://www.laneta.apc.org/gem/gem_2.htm
Federacion Nacional de Sindicatos Bancarios(In Spanish):http://www.fenasib.org.mx/
Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres(In Spanish):http://www.inmujeres.gob.mx/
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/996/context/archive
Women's Enews
Run Date: 08/06/02
By Laurence Pantin
WEnews correspondent
Women's rights activists are urging Mexico's President Fox to support reform of labor laws to bar sex bias in the workplace. Also, in Pennsylvania, a judge lifted a court order and permitted a woman to have an abortion opposed by her companion.
MEXICO CITY (WOMENSENEWS)--Attorney Julia Perez has represented many women who were sexually harassed at work, but one in particular stands out.
Her client, a local government employee, was called into the office of one of her bosses when he heard that she had bought a new dress the day before.
The man asked her to try the dress on for him, and as she was putting it on top of her clothes, he asked her whether she had already been paid.
When the woman said that she hadn't, he asked her to remove her clothes to try on the dress. If she did so, he said, he'd make sure she'd be paid that day.
When Perez's client refused, he tried to kiss her, removed her clothes and asked her to kiss his penis.
The employee managed to leave the room and immediately told another office manager what had happened. The manager told her that she was responsible for her boss's behavior.
Women who have suffered from such abuses would like to speak up about the discrimination they've been subjected to and put an end to it, Perez says.
"The problem is that the law, as it is now, doesn't enable you to put an end" to this type of behavior, she says. "On the contrary, it almost guarantees you you'll end up losing your case." She added that that the woman didn't file a complaint to the police because she believed she did not have enough evidence to prove her case.
Advocates Argue for Labor Reform with a 'Gender Perspective'
For that reason, feminists and union activists here are proposing reforms to the Mexican federal labor law that would take into account the hurdles working women face every day.
They are advocating that the Mexican labor law assert the right of women to work in all sectors, as well as their right to equal pay for equal work. Their proposal also would give more protection to working mothers by requiring that employers maintain their job security and seniority after a pregnancy.
The "proposal of labor reform with a gender perspective" comes as business and union representatives negotiate with President Vicente Fox over updates to the country's labor law, originally passed in 1931 and last reformed in 1974.
All sectors in Mexico agree that a reform to this law, which has been intended for almost 10 years, is urgent, even though they strongly disagree on how it should be modified.
Proponents of the gender-sensitive reform say women should take part in the debate since the 13.2 million working women in Mexico--about 35 percent of the country's workers--are more and more often victims of multiple forms of discrimination.
The proposal if it became law would also prohibit companies from requiring women to take pregnancy tests when they apply for a position or to fire women because they're expecting a child. Furthermore, it would include a precise definition of sexual harassment, declare it illegal and hold employers responsible for failing to eliminate harassment.
Labor Secretary Inspires Ire of Women's Rights Advocates
When Mexico's federal labor law was approved in 1931, few women worked and the Mexican Constitution didn't give women the right to vote, much less the right to participate in the political debate over their own rights.
"We thought it was important to participate and present a reform proposal that takes into account working women's long-standing demands," said Ines Gonzalez, head of the Federacion Nacional de Sindicatos Bancarios (National Federation of Bank Workers' Unions), who helped craft the proposal.
"We thought that if we remained on the side and didn't give our opinion, they were likely to invite us at the federal labor law's funeral," she said, referring to the government and business sector.
The groups pushing for reform are now trying to find political support, said Ortiz. They have presented their proposal to the Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres (National Women's Institute), a federal institution that promotes gender equity and women's rights, as well as to the Union Nacional de Trabajadores (National Union of Workers), a federation of independent unions. These associations are also seeking the support of main political parties and are hoping to present their proposal to the commissions on equity and gender of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Reformers were spurred to action last year, when the current government's labor secretary, Carlos Abascal, delivered a speech on International Women's Day in which he described women's "specific vocation as mothers and spouses."
"Some women experience the temptation to liberate themselves from what constitutes their specific vocation as mothers and spouses, since one of the tendencies of the modern world is to highlight rights, forgetting that to every right corresponds a duty," Abascal said at the time. "A real promotion of women requires from our society a re-evaluation and recognition of maternal and family-related tasks, because these have a greater value than all other tasks and public professions."
Discrimination against working women in Mexico starts before women are hired, said Rosario Ortiz, coordinator of the Network of Union Women, since women seeking a job often have to take a pregnancy test and are not hired if the results come back positive. Once hired, many women are fired if they tell their employer that they are expecting a child, added said Cecilia Talamante, coordinator of the Grupo de Educacion Popular con Mujeres, A.C. (Popular Education Group for Women), which helped create the proposal.
"In the case of maquiladoras--and this has been documented--they even keep track of their workers' menstruations," she said, referring to foreign-owned assembly plants. Employers usually use another pretext to fire pregnant women, who usually cannot prove they've been fired for their pregnancy, Talamante added.
Mexico's Department of Labor, has no statistics to support Talamante's allegations.
Battle Has Two Fronts: Employers, Unions
The segregated labor market is another hidden form of discrimination, Ortiz said. Women tend to work in traditionally female activities that pay less. Government studies show that while working women have a higher education than working men on average, they earn only 75 percent of what men earn. Even when they are hired in sectors where men and women are equally represented, said Gonzalez, women stay at the lowest positions and find it much more difficult to get promoted.
Finally, sexual harassment in the workplace remains an issue many women have to cope with and can hardly denounce, said Talamante. Sexual harassment in the workplace affects three of every four working women, and of these, 40 percent leave their job because of the harassment, according to the information provided by the groups behind the reform proposal.
In addition, gender discrimination also exists in unions, where women's participation is minimal, according to Gonzalez.
"As women," she said, "we have to take on a double fight: the fight against the boss, the company, to obtain better working conditions, and the fight against our own co-workers, who sometimes take us into account, but usually ignore us."
Laurence Pantin is Women's Enews' correspondent in Mexico City.
For more information:
Grupo de Educacion Popular con Mujeres, A.C.(In Spanish):http://www.laneta.apc.org/gem/gem_2.htm
Federacion Nacional de Sindicatos Bancarios(In Spanish):http://www.fenasib.org.mx/
Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres(In Spanish):http://www.inmujeres.gob.mx/
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/996/context/archive
jueves, 1 de agosto de 2002
En inglés - Sobre las malas condiciones de trabajo en una maquiladora de Hermosillo
Bloomberg's Terminal Troubles
The Sorry Union History of a Mexican Tech Factory
The Village Voice
July 24 - 30, 2002
by Laurence Pantin
On one of the few paved roads in Cananea, a small Mexican mining town at the Arizona border, an isolated rectangular building of white sheet metal sits in the sun. On its front there are two small windows and two doors. At one time, up to a thousand people toiled in this plant nine hours a day in sweatshop-like conditions for less than 40 cents an hour, manufacturing computer keyboards and video games. And it is here that a company named Maxi Switch Inc. smashed the independent union its workers formed in November 1995.
It is also in this plant that Maxi Switch manufactured special keyboards for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's media company Bloomberg LP. In fact, Maxi Switch has produced these keyboards for years. Bloomberg LP likely was aware of Maxi Switch's attempt to bust its union, and, it seems, did nothing about it.
These keyboards accompany the flat-panel Bloomberg terminals that clients of the Bloomberg Professional service can lease in order to get real-time financial data delivered to them. The service costs between $1285 and $1640 per month per workstation—and for an extra 150 bucks a month customers can have the special terminal and keyboard on their desks. Bloomberg clients include all the major private banking firms and central banks, said Chris Taylor, spokesperson for Bloomberg LP. With 166,000 terminals leased to date, the Bloomberg Professional service represents "at least 95 percent" of the company's revenues, according to Taylor, who declined to answer further questions about the origin, the volume, and the nature of Bloomberg LP's business relationship with Maxi Switch.
However, according to Leonel Meneses Encinas, who supervised shipments at Maxi Switch's Cananea plant for four years, and Olga Figueroa Bustamante, who was in charge of its quality-control department, Bloomberg's keyboards and their unmistakable special keys were produced at this plant.
Beside Bloomberg LP, Maxi Switch's clients include major companies such as IBM, Dell, Sega, Gateway, and Lexmark. Based in Tucson, Arizona, the company is a subsidiary of the Taiwanese corporation Lite-On/Silitek Global EMS Group. During a three-month investigation, the Voice interviewed many former Maxi Switch workers, and some still at the company, about their working conditions and the busting of their union.
Maxi Switch opened its Cananea, Sonora, facility in the fall of 1994. "It started with about 300 workers and exceeded 1000" by the end of 1995, said Héctor Tagles, then Cananea's mayor, who recalled inaugurating the plant.
Wages at Maxi Switch were much lower than at other foreign assembly plants, called maquiladoras, said all workers interviewed by the Voice. Workers at Microsistemas, a Cananea maquiladora producing textiles, would get "four times more than what Maxi Switch paid," according to Enrique Treviso Molinares, who worked two years as a Maxi Switch manager before switching to Microsistemas. Former Maxi Switch worker Alicia Pérez García kept pay slips from the time she started working there which show her daily pay was the minimum wage at the time: 18.30 Mexican pesos—or $2.98 at the 1995 exchange rate. One week, she worked the regular 48 hours and got $23, bonuses and benefits included.
Workers also complained about a lack of ventilation that caused people to faint, the few cramped buses available to get to the plant, a lunchroom with only two tables and one microwave for up to 1000 workers, and inflexible supervisors who often refused to let workers go to the bathroom or drink water. Finally, in August 1995, a group of workers started to form an independent union, with the help of the Union of Telephone Workers of Mexico, to get better wages and conditions.
When managers learned about the organizing, they threatened to fire workers supporting the union. Rumors spread among management that the company would close the plant if the union got in, said Treviso. "They made me understand that if [workers] imposed a union, they [Maxi Switch] would go," added former Mayor Tagles.
But this didn't discourage employees, who formed the Union of Maxi Switch Workers, and sought official recognition before the Sonora Conciliation and Arbitration Board on November 24, 1995. Four days later, the union's newly elected secretary general, Alicia Pérez, was working on her line when a co-worker punched her in the arm and torso. When she complained to the human resources representative, she was fired. In the following months, several other union leaders were dismissed.
On January 23, 1996, the Conciliation and Arbitration Board denied legal recognition to the union, arguing that Maxi Switch already had a signed collective labor contract with a state union. But workers were never told about this union and Pérez's pay slips do not show that she was paying any union dues. They later found out that on September 20, 1995—a month after workers started organizing—the company had signed a contract with a union affiliated with the Confederación de Trabajadores de México (CTM), or Mexican Confederation of Workers, a government union federation.
"I know how to handle unions and how you can protect yourself [from them]," said Salvador Talamantes Torres, director of Maxi Switch's Cananea plant at the time. Talamantes admitted that Maxi Switch sought to protect itself from unions. The company's strategy began with signing a labor contract with a CTM-affiliated union.
"This was a case where the union that Maxi Switch had was what we call in Mexico a ghost union," said Roberto Dagnino, director general of industrial development for the state of Sonora, who was vice-president of the Cananea Chamber of Commerce at the time. This was confirmed by Tagles and Treviso. "The ghost union is really a placeholder," according to labor expert Harley Shaiken, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, who added that "it is an institution that the employer itself brings in to avoid a real union coming in."
These ghost unions—also called protection unions—are illegal, since Mexican federal labor law clearly states that workers have the right to form their own union to defend their interests. In fact, it was also illegal for the Conciliation and Arbitration Board to deny recognition to the workers' union on the grounds that the company already had one, since Mexican labor law doesn't prohibit more than one union in the workplace. The workers' union then asked the help of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), who, on October 11, 1996, filed a submission denouncing the situation with the U.S. National Administrative Office (NAO), an agency set up under NAFTA to review labor law issues arising in Canada or Mexico.
A few days before the NAO hearings on the matter, and under pressure from the Mexican government, the board granted the union's registration in April 1997, and in exchange, the CWA set aside its NAO submission. Still, the union was not granted the right to bargain the Maxi Switch labor contract until five months later, in October.
According to Bloomberg spokesperson Chris Taylor, Bloomberg LP's understanding is that the problem involved the Mexican government and two unions in a dispute over which one would represent workers at the Cananea plant. "As far as we can tell, the dispute was resolved amicably several years ago pursuant to an agreement among union officials and the Mexican government," reads a Bloomberg LP statement sent to the Voice on April 12, 2002. The Voice had received no comment from Mayor Bloomberg's office at press time.
However, by the time the arbitration board gave the workers' union the right to bargain, the company had laid off most of its workers, cutting back to a few hundred, and had transferred most of its production to a plant in Hermosillo, Sonora. Maxi Switch also changed the Cananea plant's name to Conceptos de Maquila. While the company pretended it had sold the plant to new owners—in which case the union's certification would be invalid—the business did not change, according to Talamantes. Conceptos de Maquila never bargained with the workers' union and closed in 1999.
Today, Bloomberg's keyboards are manufactured at the Maxi Switch plant in Hermosillo, according to a manager there who asked to remain anonymous. According to Bloomberg LP's statement, "The company assures us unequivocally that it is in full compliance with the labor laws of Mexico." It further states that, "Maxi-Switch [sic] also assures us that it has in place a collective bargaining agreement with a recognized bona fide union, as is required by Mexican law." Indeed , when asked about the company's labor problems, Maxi Switch corporate counsel Michael Trull said, "I know we have a union, and I know that the contract was bargained for and it has been approved, of course, by the Mexican government. So, we always comply with Mexican labor laws."
Yet, when Maxi Switch opened the Hermosillo plant in June 1996, the company was in the middle of the labor conflict at the Cananea plant. In fact, Talamantes, the Cananea plant director, said he bought the Hermosillo plant buildings and started operations there. At the new site, he once again knew "how to handle unions." The company signed a collective labor contract there with the same CTM-affiliated union with whom it had signed in Cananea to keep out the workers' union.
When the Voice asked the secretary general of this CTM-affiliated union, Guadalupe Gracia, whether her group was acting as a protection union at the Cananea plant, she strongly denied it. "We did a very good job in Cananea. And I can assure you that if I go back to Cananea, people will welcome me with open arms, because we came off well as a union," Gracia added, although minutes earlier she'd been unable to remember whether her union signed a contract with Maxi Switch at that plant.
Javier Villarreal Gámez, CTM deputy secretary general at the state level, gave another version of the story. When asked whether Gracia's union acted as a protection union in Cananea, he said that "at that time, it was approximately true. That is, this union is not a protection union. But neither is it a very active union." He later added, "I recognize that this union had its problems at the beginning, but little by little it has improved its work, and now it is considered, in general terms, a good union."
But are the Hermosillo workers any better off? These workers, including a few who were brought from Cananea by management, are also underpaid, according to most managers and workers interviewed, who were afraid to allow use of their names. The wages at this Maxi Switch plant are still lower than those of other maquiladoras. In fact, according to Villarreal Gámez, today maquiladoras pay workers, on average, two to three times the daily minimum wage—that is, between 80 and 120 pesos ($8.85 to $13.30), a figure confirmed by various labor experts. Yet, according to a copy of the contract Maxi Switch signed with Gracia's union and obtained by the Voice, the company pays starting workers 44 pesos a day ($4.76), increasing to 63 pesos ($6.82) when they reach six months' seniority. Wages at Maxi Switch are thus very close to today's daily minimum wage, which is 40.10 pesos ($4.45) in Hermosillo.
If Maxi Switch's wages barely satisfy the legal minimum and are below the industry average, the company doesn't even fully comply with the law. When Maxi Switch revised its contract last January, it raised the daily wage from 50 to 52 pesos for workers with three months on the job and from 60 to 63 pesos for workers with six months in. Even though the contract was applicable from January 31, 2002, a worker's pay slips show she received no increase until March 1, and no retroactive pay, which is illegal, according to labor experts.
In fact, a closer look at the labor contract itself shows that it openly violates several articles of Mexican federal labor law, according to Graciela Bensusán, a political science professor specializing in labor relations at the Latin-American Faculty of Social Sciences. For instance, by stating that the number of positions offered at the plant will vary according to the company's needs, the contract disregards labor law. "This is extreme flexibility—that is, the company can do whatever it wants," she added. This shows the union doesn't really defend its workers, according to Bensusán. These violations to the law are mild in comparison to the one that concerns Gracia's remuneration by Maxi Switch. When asked whether workers had to pay union dues, Gracia answered that union dues are exclusively for the workers.
"So, who pays us, if that's what you want to know?" she added. "The company pays us like a fee, like they'd pay any lawyer. But don't think that because the company pays us a fee, we'll do what the company wants. That is, it's like a punishment for the company to have to pay us so that we act as consultants to the workers."
However, Maxi Switch's contract doesn't say a word about paying the secretary general or other members of the union executive committee a fee to give professional advice to workers or for any other purpose. "This would be absolutely abnormal that the company pay any amount to the union leader," said Bensusán. In fact, if Maxi Switch paid Gracia, as she said it does, this payment would be illegal and unethical. "This would precisely be like a protection union," Bensusán said, before adding that this shows Gracia "is acting more as a representative of the company than of the workers."
When interviewed by the Voice, Bloomberg LP's Taylor said the company had looked into the issue of its relationship with Maxi Switch during Bloomberg's campaign for mayor. The company's attorney, Thomas Golden, also mentioned that he had read information about the demand presented to the NAO by the CWA on behalf of the Maxi Switch Workers' Union. This submission, which is available on the U.S. Department of Labor's Web page, clearly describes the poor working conditions at the Cananea Maxi Switch plant, how Maxi Switch engaged in anti-union practices, and how it sought to sign a contract with a protection union. This should certainly have pushed Bloomberg LP to question Maxi Switch's labor practices.
Eight months have passed since Bloomberg's campaign ended with his election, and Bloomberg LP's reaction is to say that "if Bloomberg did learn of any unfair or illegal labor practices by Maxi-Switch [sic], it would promptly take appropriate action," according to the company statement. In fact, Golden told the Voice, "Whether or not the union is acting in the best interest of the workers, I have no idea."
During his campaign, Bloomberg was much more assertive about his subcontractors' labor practices. Once, he was asked how he would face New York's complex and powerful union machine given his lack of experience in dealing with unions, since his own media company is union-free. "I deal with unions all the time," Bloomberg replied. "We negotiate contracts. We employ nothing but union labor in our company for all of our subcontractors. I know how to balance a budget. I know how to get things done on time. That's what being a mayor is all about."
Whatever action Bloomberg takes now will show New Yorkers whether the claim that all his company's subcontractors are union shops does mean something to him. If that's really what being a mayor is all about, workers, unions, and New Yorkers in general should be interested in knowing whether Maxi Switch's workers see their wages and conditions improve.
Research assistance: Peter G.H. Madsen and Catherine Worth.
Laurence Pantin lives in Mexico and her research was partly funded by an award from the Foreign Press Association in New York.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-07-23/news/bloomberg-s-terminal-troubles/
The Sorry Union History of a Mexican Tech Factory
The Village Voice
July 24 - 30, 2002
by Laurence Pantin
On one of the few paved roads in Cananea, a small Mexican mining town at the Arizona border, an isolated rectangular building of white sheet metal sits in the sun. On its front there are two small windows and two doors. At one time, up to a thousand people toiled in this plant nine hours a day in sweatshop-like conditions for less than 40 cents an hour, manufacturing computer keyboards and video games. And it is here that a company named Maxi Switch Inc. smashed the independent union its workers formed in November 1995.It is also in this plant that Maxi Switch manufactured special keyboards for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's media company Bloomberg LP. In fact, Maxi Switch has produced these keyboards for years. Bloomberg LP likely was aware of Maxi Switch's attempt to bust its union, and, it seems, did nothing about it.
These keyboards accompany the flat-panel Bloomberg terminals that clients of the Bloomberg Professional service can lease in order to get real-time financial data delivered to them. The service costs between $1285 and $1640 per month per workstation—and for an extra 150 bucks a month customers can have the special terminal and keyboard on their desks. Bloomberg clients include all the major private banking firms and central banks, said Chris Taylor, spokesperson for Bloomberg LP. With 166,000 terminals leased to date, the Bloomberg Professional service represents "at least 95 percent" of the company's revenues, according to Taylor, who declined to answer further questions about the origin, the volume, and the nature of Bloomberg LP's business relationship with Maxi Switch.
However, according to Leonel Meneses Encinas, who supervised shipments at Maxi Switch's Cananea plant for four years, and Olga Figueroa Bustamante, who was in charge of its quality-control department, Bloomberg's keyboards and their unmistakable special keys were produced at this plant.
Beside Bloomberg LP, Maxi Switch's clients include major companies such as IBM, Dell, Sega, Gateway, and Lexmark. Based in Tucson, Arizona, the company is a subsidiary of the Taiwanese corporation Lite-On/Silitek Global EMS Group. During a three-month investigation, the Voice interviewed many former Maxi Switch workers, and some still at the company, about their working conditions and the busting of their union.
Maxi Switch opened its Cananea, Sonora, facility in the fall of 1994. "It started with about 300 workers and exceeded 1000" by the end of 1995, said Héctor Tagles, then Cananea's mayor, who recalled inaugurating the plant.
Wages at Maxi Switch were much lower than at other foreign assembly plants, called maquiladoras, said all workers interviewed by the Voice. Workers at Microsistemas, a Cananea maquiladora producing textiles, would get "four times more than what Maxi Switch paid," according to Enrique Treviso Molinares, who worked two years as a Maxi Switch manager before switching to Microsistemas. Former Maxi Switch worker Alicia Pérez García kept pay slips from the time she started working there which show her daily pay was the minimum wage at the time: 18.30 Mexican pesos—or $2.98 at the 1995 exchange rate. One week, she worked the regular 48 hours and got $23, bonuses and benefits included.
Workers also complained about a lack of ventilation that caused people to faint, the few cramped buses available to get to the plant, a lunchroom with only two tables and one microwave for up to 1000 workers, and inflexible supervisors who often refused to let workers go to the bathroom or drink water. Finally, in August 1995, a group of workers started to form an independent union, with the help of the Union of Telephone Workers of Mexico, to get better wages and conditions.
When managers learned about the organizing, they threatened to fire workers supporting the union. Rumors spread among management that the company would close the plant if the union got in, said Treviso. "They made me understand that if [workers] imposed a union, they [Maxi Switch] would go," added former Mayor Tagles.
But this didn't discourage employees, who formed the Union of Maxi Switch Workers, and sought official recognition before the Sonora Conciliation and Arbitration Board on November 24, 1995. Four days later, the union's newly elected secretary general, Alicia Pérez, was working on her line when a co-worker punched her in the arm and torso. When she complained to the human resources representative, she was fired. In the following months, several other union leaders were dismissed.
On January 23, 1996, the Conciliation and Arbitration Board denied legal recognition to the union, arguing that Maxi Switch already had a signed collective labor contract with a state union. But workers were never told about this union and Pérez's pay slips do not show that she was paying any union dues. They later found out that on September 20, 1995—a month after workers started organizing—the company had signed a contract with a union affiliated with the Confederación de Trabajadores de México (CTM), or Mexican Confederation of Workers, a government union federation.
"I know how to handle unions and how you can protect yourself [from them]," said Salvador Talamantes Torres, director of Maxi Switch's Cananea plant at the time. Talamantes admitted that Maxi Switch sought to protect itself from unions. The company's strategy began with signing a labor contract with a CTM-affiliated union.
"This was a case where the union that Maxi Switch had was what we call in Mexico a ghost union," said Roberto Dagnino, director general of industrial development for the state of Sonora, who was vice-president of the Cananea Chamber of Commerce at the time. This was confirmed by Tagles and Treviso. "The ghost union is really a placeholder," according to labor expert Harley Shaiken, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, who added that "it is an institution that the employer itself brings in to avoid a real union coming in."
These ghost unions—also called protection unions—are illegal, since Mexican federal labor law clearly states that workers have the right to form their own union to defend their interests. In fact, it was also illegal for the Conciliation and Arbitration Board to deny recognition to the workers' union on the grounds that the company already had one, since Mexican labor law doesn't prohibit more than one union in the workplace. The workers' union then asked the help of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), who, on October 11, 1996, filed a submission denouncing the situation with the U.S. National Administrative Office (NAO), an agency set up under NAFTA to review labor law issues arising in Canada or Mexico.
A few days before the NAO hearings on the matter, and under pressure from the Mexican government, the board granted the union's registration in April 1997, and in exchange, the CWA set aside its NAO submission. Still, the union was not granted the right to bargain the Maxi Switch labor contract until five months later, in October.
According to Bloomberg spokesperson Chris Taylor, Bloomberg LP's understanding is that the problem involved the Mexican government and two unions in a dispute over which one would represent workers at the Cananea plant. "As far as we can tell, the dispute was resolved amicably several years ago pursuant to an agreement among union officials and the Mexican government," reads a Bloomberg LP statement sent to the Voice on April 12, 2002. The Voice had received no comment from Mayor Bloomberg's office at press time.
However, by the time the arbitration board gave the workers' union the right to bargain, the company had laid off most of its workers, cutting back to a few hundred, and had transferred most of its production to a plant in Hermosillo, Sonora. Maxi Switch also changed the Cananea plant's name to Conceptos de Maquila. While the company pretended it had sold the plant to new owners—in which case the union's certification would be invalid—the business did not change, according to Talamantes. Conceptos de Maquila never bargained with the workers' union and closed in 1999.
Today, Bloomberg's keyboards are manufactured at the Maxi Switch plant in Hermosillo, according to a manager there who asked to remain anonymous. According to Bloomberg LP's statement, "The company assures us unequivocally that it is in full compliance with the labor laws of Mexico." It further states that, "Maxi-Switch [sic] also assures us that it has in place a collective bargaining agreement with a recognized bona fide union, as is required by Mexican law." Indeed , when asked about the company's labor problems, Maxi Switch corporate counsel Michael Trull said, "I know we have a union, and I know that the contract was bargained for and it has been approved, of course, by the Mexican government. So, we always comply with Mexican labor laws."
Yet, when Maxi Switch opened the Hermosillo plant in June 1996, the company was in the middle of the labor conflict at the Cananea plant. In fact, Talamantes, the Cananea plant director, said he bought the Hermosillo plant buildings and started operations there. At the new site, he once again knew "how to handle unions." The company signed a collective labor contract there with the same CTM-affiliated union with whom it had signed in Cananea to keep out the workers' union.
When the Voice asked the secretary general of this CTM-affiliated union, Guadalupe Gracia, whether her group was acting as a protection union at the Cananea plant, she strongly denied it. "We did a very good job in Cananea. And I can assure you that if I go back to Cananea, people will welcome me with open arms, because we came off well as a union," Gracia added, although minutes earlier she'd been unable to remember whether her union signed a contract with Maxi Switch at that plant.
Javier Villarreal Gámez, CTM deputy secretary general at the state level, gave another version of the story. When asked whether Gracia's union acted as a protection union in Cananea, he said that "at that time, it was approximately true. That is, this union is not a protection union. But neither is it a very active union." He later added, "I recognize that this union had its problems at the beginning, but little by little it has improved its work, and now it is considered, in general terms, a good union."
But are the Hermosillo workers any better off? These workers, including a few who were brought from Cananea by management, are also underpaid, according to most managers and workers interviewed, who were afraid to allow use of their names. The wages at this Maxi Switch plant are still lower than those of other maquiladoras. In fact, according to Villarreal Gámez, today maquiladoras pay workers, on average, two to three times the daily minimum wage—that is, between 80 and 120 pesos ($8.85 to $13.30), a figure confirmed by various labor experts. Yet, according to a copy of the contract Maxi Switch signed with Gracia's union and obtained by the Voice, the company pays starting workers 44 pesos a day ($4.76), increasing to 63 pesos ($6.82) when they reach six months' seniority. Wages at Maxi Switch are thus very close to today's daily minimum wage, which is 40.10 pesos ($4.45) in Hermosillo.
If Maxi Switch's wages barely satisfy the legal minimum and are below the industry average, the company doesn't even fully comply with the law. When Maxi Switch revised its contract last January, it raised the daily wage from 50 to 52 pesos for workers with three months on the job and from 60 to 63 pesos for workers with six months in. Even though the contract was applicable from January 31, 2002, a worker's pay slips show she received no increase until March 1, and no retroactive pay, which is illegal, according to labor experts.
In fact, a closer look at the labor contract itself shows that it openly violates several articles of Mexican federal labor law, according to Graciela Bensusán, a political science professor specializing in labor relations at the Latin-American Faculty of Social Sciences. For instance, by stating that the number of positions offered at the plant will vary according to the company's needs, the contract disregards labor law. "This is extreme flexibility—that is, the company can do whatever it wants," she added. This shows the union doesn't really defend its workers, according to Bensusán. These violations to the law are mild in comparison to the one that concerns Gracia's remuneration by Maxi Switch. When asked whether workers had to pay union dues, Gracia answered that union dues are exclusively for the workers.
"So, who pays us, if that's what you want to know?" she added. "The company pays us like a fee, like they'd pay any lawyer. But don't think that because the company pays us a fee, we'll do what the company wants. That is, it's like a punishment for the company to have to pay us so that we act as consultants to the workers."
However, Maxi Switch's contract doesn't say a word about paying the secretary general or other members of the union executive committee a fee to give professional advice to workers or for any other purpose. "This would be absolutely abnormal that the company pay any amount to the union leader," said Bensusán. In fact, if Maxi Switch paid Gracia, as she said it does, this payment would be illegal and unethical. "This would precisely be like a protection union," Bensusán said, before adding that this shows Gracia "is acting more as a representative of the company than of the workers."
When interviewed by the Voice, Bloomberg LP's Taylor said the company had looked into the issue of its relationship with Maxi Switch during Bloomberg's campaign for mayor. The company's attorney, Thomas Golden, also mentioned that he had read information about the demand presented to the NAO by the CWA on behalf of the Maxi Switch Workers' Union. This submission, which is available on the U.S. Department of Labor's Web page, clearly describes the poor working conditions at the Cananea Maxi Switch plant, how Maxi Switch engaged in anti-union practices, and how it sought to sign a contract with a protection union. This should certainly have pushed Bloomberg LP to question Maxi Switch's labor practices.
Eight months have passed since Bloomberg's campaign ended with his election, and Bloomberg LP's reaction is to say that "if Bloomberg did learn of any unfair or illegal labor practices by Maxi-Switch [sic], it would promptly take appropriate action," according to the company statement. In fact, Golden told the Voice, "Whether or not the union is acting in the best interest of the workers, I have no idea."
During his campaign, Bloomberg was much more assertive about his subcontractors' labor practices. Once, he was asked how he would face New York's complex and powerful union machine given his lack of experience in dealing with unions, since his own media company is union-free. "I deal with unions all the time," Bloomberg replied. "We negotiate contracts. We employ nothing but union labor in our company for all of our subcontractors. I know how to balance a budget. I know how to get things done on time. That's what being a mayor is all about."
Whatever action Bloomberg takes now will show New Yorkers whether the claim that all his company's subcontractors are union shops does mean something to him. If that's really what being a mayor is all about, workers, unions, and New Yorkers in general should be interested in knowing whether Maxi Switch's workers see their wages and conditions improve.
Research assistance: Peter G.H. Madsen and Catherine Worth.
Laurence Pantin lives in Mexico and her research was partly funded by an award from the Foreign Press Association in New York.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-07-23/news/bloomberg-s-terminal-troubles/
lunes, 29 de abril de 2002
En inglés - Sobre el papel de las ONGs en la conferencia de Naciones Unidas sobre el financiamiento del desarrollo
Half Measures
NGOs reject U.N. Monterrey Consensus
In These Times
April 29, 2002
By Laurence Pantin
MONTERREY, MEXICO- Representatives of civil society, the business sector, international finance and heads of states from over 50 countries gathered here from March 18 to 22 for a U.N. conference on aid for developing countries.
NGOs from over 80 countries overwhelmingly rejected the conference's final declaration, known as the Monterrey Consensus, however, saying it doesn't take into account their proposals and will not meet the conference's goals.
For the first time, the U. N. International Conference on Financing for Development brought representatives from non-governmental organizations together with world leaders and global financial organizations, including the World Bank and the IMF. The conference's professed
goal, dating from the U.N. Millenium Summit, was to cut global poverty in half and provide universal education by 2015.
June Zeitlin, executive director of the Women's Environment and Development Organization, says the conference did bring together those concerned with the issues of poverty and economic
inequality in an unprecedented way. "In that sense, the process was more open," she says. "Maybe that's why our expectations were higher that the results would reflect our input."
In rejecting the consensus, NGOs said that their criticisms of neoliberal economic development were not taken into account in the documento. The consensus affirms free trade as one of the primary solutions to world poverty, echoing the statements of many world leaders during the conference.
For this reason, Liliana Flores, a leader of the Barzon Debtors' movement, an anti-free trade organization from Mexico, decided not to attend the conference. Instead, she and her group demonstrated outside, along with about 3,000 others, she says, to denounce "neoliberal policy as the institutional policy for the world."
But many NGOs attending the conference knew that their participation could be used to bring legitimacy to the consensus. "I think we are quite aware of the danger of being co-opted," says Zo Randriamo, a program manager at the Third World Network in Ghana, "and ending up legitimizing something we are fighting against."
"We also have to be clear that there’s a very strong anti-globalization, anti-trade liberalization movement out there", says Mahau Pheko, coordinator of the International Gender and Trade Network in South Africa. "And I think we have to understand this conference in that context." The U.N. attempt to include civil society in its processesis not a genuine effort, Flores adds: "What they are trying to do is neutralize citizens' protests".
In what was also a first-time move, "roundtable" discussions were held at the conference to allow all those with a stake in a specific issue to converse face to face. Laura Frade, coordinator of the Women's Eyes on the Multilaterals Latin American Campaign, says she was able to add to "the national and international agenda a theme that was not there: democratizing the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank," and to secure specific victories. In response to her comments during a session, Horst Köhler, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, pledged to promote the participation of women on the IMF board.
But others are still resistant to civil society's participation. Poul Nielson, head of Development and Humanitarian Aid for the European Commission, commented sharply that if NGOs want to play a role in a democracy, "they should get elected".
Still, NGOs say the Monterrey conference's inclusive format should be extended to future conferences, and organizers seem to agree. "We will never [again] do less than what has been done here," says Oscar de Rojas, the conference's executive coordinator. Aid and development organizations are already preparing for the next conference on sustainable development, which will take place in Johannesburg in August.
The last section of the Monterrey consensus, entitled "Staying engaged," sets guidelines for follow-up actions. NGOs, said Randriamaro of the Thirld World Network, are "staying engaged...but not getting married."
NGOs reject U.N. Monterrey Consensus
In These Times
April 29, 2002
By Laurence Pantin
MONTERREY, MEXICO- Representatives of civil society, the business sector, international finance and heads of states from over 50 countries gathered here from March 18 to 22 for a U.N. conference on aid for developing countries.
NGOs from over 80 countries overwhelmingly rejected the conference's final declaration, known as the Monterrey Consensus, however, saying it doesn't take into account their proposals and will not meet the conference's goals.
For the first time, the U. N. International Conference on Financing for Development brought representatives from non-governmental organizations together with world leaders and global financial organizations, including the World Bank and the IMF. The conference's professed
goal, dating from the U.N. Millenium Summit, was to cut global poverty in half and provide universal education by 2015.
June Zeitlin, executive director of the Women's Environment and Development Organization, says the conference did bring together those concerned with the issues of poverty and economic
inequality in an unprecedented way. "In that sense, the process was more open," she says. "Maybe that's why our expectations were higher that the results would reflect our input."
In rejecting the consensus, NGOs said that their criticisms of neoliberal economic development were not taken into account in the documento. The consensus affirms free trade as one of the primary solutions to world poverty, echoing the statements of many world leaders during the conference.
For this reason, Liliana Flores, a leader of the Barzon Debtors' movement, an anti-free trade organization from Mexico, decided not to attend the conference. Instead, she and her group demonstrated outside, along with about 3,000 others, she says, to denounce "neoliberal policy as the institutional policy for the world."
But many NGOs attending the conference knew that their participation could be used to bring legitimacy to the consensus. "I think we are quite aware of the danger of being co-opted," says Zo Randriamo, a program manager at the Third World Network in Ghana, "and ending up legitimizing something we are fighting against."
"We also have to be clear that there’s a very strong anti-globalization, anti-trade liberalization movement out there", says Mahau Pheko, coordinator of the International Gender and Trade Network in South Africa. "And I think we have to understand this conference in that context." The U.N. attempt to include civil society in its processesis not a genuine effort, Flores adds: "What they are trying to do is neutralize citizens' protests".
In what was also a first-time move, "roundtable" discussions were held at the conference to allow all those with a stake in a specific issue to converse face to face. Laura Frade, coordinator of the Women's Eyes on the Multilaterals Latin American Campaign, says she was able to add to "the national and international agenda a theme that was not there: democratizing the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank," and to secure specific victories. In response to her comments during a session, Horst Köhler, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, pledged to promote the participation of women on the IMF board.
But others are still resistant to civil society's participation. Poul Nielson, head of Development and Humanitarian Aid for the European Commission, commented sharply that if NGOs want to play a role in a democracy, "they should get elected".
Still, NGOs say the Monterrey conference's inclusive format should be extended to future conferences, and organizers seem to agree. "We will never [again] do less than what has been done here," says Oscar de Rojas, the conference's executive coordinator. Aid and development organizations are already preparing for the next conference on sustainable development, which will take place in Johannesburg in August.
The last section of the Monterrey consensus, entitled "Staying engaged," sets guidelines for follow-up actions. NGOs, said Randriamaro of the Thirld World Network, are "staying engaged...but not getting married."
martes, 26 de marzo de 2002
En inglés - Sobre la conferencia de Naciones Unidas sobre el financiamiento del desarrollo
Women's Groups Critical of Outcome at Monterrey
Women's Enews
Run Date: 03/26/02
By Laurence Pantin
WEnews correspondent
Many women's groups criticized the document produced by leaders at the U.N. International Conference on Financing for Development, saying that too little money is promised within it and it relies on private investment rather than state action.
MONTERREY, Mexico (WOMENSENEWS)--Women from over 50 countries gathered here for a United Nations development summit rejected its final consensus document, arguing that it doesn't include the necessary commitments from industrialized countries to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote sustainable development. They said the document failed to address the disproportionately negative effects of globalization on women and girls.
Women's organizations that criticized the so-called Monterey Consensus document pointed to the Millennium Summit of 2000, when governments agreed to reduce poverty by half by 2015, as the promise that went unfulfilled at last week's five-day U.N. International Conference on Financing for Development.
The Monterrey conference, promoted as the meeting at which powerful countries would reach ground-breaking decisions on the refinancing of development initiatives and come up with unique strategies to do so, drew government officials from 179 countries, business leaders, non-governmental organizations and international financial institutions.
The consensus document, however, affirms the current development model of globalization and economic liberalization as the strategy for reducing poverty, but emphasizes that each country has a primary responsibility for its own development.
The United Nations has been a critical space for women to gain recognition of their rights and concerns, said June Zeitlin, executive director of the New York-based Women's Environment and Development Organization, adding that women have a long history of working in the United Nations system. While many women attended the Monterrey conference, she said, their perspectives were not incorporated into the consensus document drawn up within the traditionally male preserve of finance, she said.
One of the Millennium Summit goals was to persuade wealthier nations to decrease the number of poor people by half by 2015 by increasing direct aid to an estimated $50 billion. But the assistance promised during the Monterrey conference by the United States and the European Union over the next several years amounts to much less, said Zeitlin.
Barry Herman, chief of the finance and development branch of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, insisted that the consensus affirms the need to "mainstream the gender perspective into development issues" by taking into account that men and women are affected differently by current economic models and development policies.
President W. Bush said the United States beginning in 2004 would raise its aid by 50 percent over three years to a total of $15 billion by 2007, while the Europeans said they would donate approximately four-tenths of a percent of their gross domestic product in 2004--amounts that critics say will not produce the $50 billion.
The conference emphasized the role of trade and private-sector investments to finance development. While recognizing the need for the intervention of the private sector, Mohau Pheko, coordinator of the International Gender and Trade Network and a native of South Africa, criticized the importance it has taken on in development efforts over the last few years.
IMF's Rules in Ghana Left Families without Clean Water
In Ghana, for example, the International Monetary Fund made loans to the government contingent upon the country's agreement that it would no longer subsidize the cost of clean drinking water and that its water utility would be privatized, said Zo Randriamaro, a program manager at the nonprofit Third World Network in Ghana who focuses on gender and economic reforms. As a result of the IMF's policy, poor families cannot afford safe water and are consequently at risk of disease, she said.
"As an African woman, as a feminist, the gains that we have made have been made through the states. They've been made because we need a strong state to distribute all of the resources of our countries," said Pheko. "The private sector's interest is profits, so we cannot depend on the private sector to distribute rights, to distribute resources equally to us. So for us, we need a strong state, a state that can really look at the interests of people."
Noeleen Heyser, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, said,"Women and children comprise the majority of the marginalized and improverished. Poverty eradication needs to address the issue of feminized poverty."
"Basically, what is good to women is good for development," said Ghana's Randriamaro. "When you look at this process from a gender perspective, then, you are able to tackle all these fundamental issues that should be addressed in this process."
Laurence Pantin is Women's Enews' correspondent in Mexico City.
For more information:
United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development: http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era: http://www.dawn.org.fj/
Third World Network: http://www.twnside.org.sg/
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/858/context/archive
Women's Enews
Run Date: 03/26/02
By Laurence Pantin
WEnews correspondent
Many women's groups criticized the document produced by leaders at the U.N. International Conference on Financing for Development, saying that too little money is promised within it and it relies on private investment rather than state action.
MONTERREY, Mexico (WOMENSENEWS)--Women from over 50 countries gathered here for a United Nations development summit rejected its final consensus document, arguing that it doesn't include the necessary commitments from industrialized countries to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote sustainable development. They said the document failed to address the disproportionately negative effects of globalization on women and girls.
Women's organizations that criticized the so-called Monterey Consensus document pointed to the Millennium Summit of 2000, when governments agreed to reduce poverty by half by 2015, as the promise that went unfulfilled at last week's five-day U.N. International Conference on Financing for Development.
The Monterrey conference, promoted as the meeting at which powerful countries would reach ground-breaking decisions on the refinancing of development initiatives and come up with unique strategies to do so, drew government officials from 179 countries, business leaders, non-governmental organizations and international financial institutions.
The consensus document, however, affirms the current development model of globalization and economic liberalization as the strategy for reducing poverty, but emphasizes that each country has a primary responsibility for its own development.
The United Nations has been a critical space for women to gain recognition of their rights and concerns, said June Zeitlin, executive director of the New York-based Women's Environment and Development Organization, adding that women have a long history of working in the United Nations system. While many women attended the Monterrey conference, she said, their perspectives were not incorporated into the consensus document drawn up within the traditionally male preserve of finance, she said.
One of the Millennium Summit goals was to persuade wealthier nations to decrease the number of poor people by half by 2015 by increasing direct aid to an estimated $50 billion. But the assistance promised during the Monterrey conference by the United States and the European Union over the next several years amounts to much less, said Zeitlin.
Barry Herman, chief of the finance and development branch of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, insisted that the consensus affirms the need to "mainstream the gender perspective into development issues" by taking into account that men and women are affected differently by current economic models and development policies.
President W. Bush said the United States beginning in 2004 would raise its aid by 50 percent over three years to a total of $15 billion by 2007, while the Europeans said they would donate approximately four-tenths of a percent of their gross domestic product in 2004--amounts that critics say will not produce the $50 billion.
The conference emphasized the role of trade and private-sector investments to finance development. While recognizing the need for the intervention of the private sector, Mohau Pheko, coordinator of the International Gender and Trade Network and a native of South Africa, criticized the importance it has taken on in development efforts over the last few years.
IMF's Rules in Ghana Left Families without Clean Water
In Ghana, for example, the International Monetary Fund made loans to the government contingent upon the country's agreement that it would no longer subsidize the cost of clean drinking water and that its water utility would be privatized, said Zo Randriamaro, a program manager at the nonprofit Third World Network in Ghana who focuses on gender and economic reforms. As a result of the IMF's policy, poor families cannot afford safe water and are consequently at risk of disease, she said.
"As an African woman, as a feminist, the gains that we have made have been made through the states. They've been made because we need a strong state to distribute all of the resources of our countries," said Pheko. "The private sector's interest is profits, so we cannot depend on the private sector to distribute rights, to distribute resources equally to us. So for us, we need a strong state, a state that can really look at the interests of people."
Noeleen Heyser, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, said,"Women and children comprise the majority of the marginalized and improverished. Poverty eradication needs to address the issue of feminized poverty."
"Basically, what is good to women is good for development," said Ghana's Randriamaro. "When you look at this process from a gender perspective, then, you are able to tackle all these fundamental issues that should be addressed in this process."
Laurence Pantin is Women's Enews' correspondent in Mexico City.
For more information:
United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development: http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era: http://www.dawn.org.fj/
Third World Network: http://www.twnside.org.sg/
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/858/context/archive
jueves, 24 de enero de 2002
En inglés - Sobre la participación de las mujeres en la política mexicana
Women Energizing Mexico's Election Season
Women's Enews
Run Date: 01/24/02
By Laurence Pantin
WEnews correspondent
Women in Mexico are seeking to take charge as political changes sweep the nation, running for top offices, talking about forming their own parties and openly campaigning for women's rights.
MEXICO CITY (WOMENSENEWS)--Women are running for president of two of this country's leading political parties, galvanizing women's rights advocates who say the candidates offer exciting visions of the future in Mexico.
Rosario Robles is looking to head the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party and Beatriz Paredes is competing for the presidency of the centrist Revolutionary Institutional Party.
At the same time, some women leaders are discussing forming their own political party and those working within the current party structures are pushing for a change that would require that 30 percent or more of all candidates be female.
Even though they defend different political programs and have very distinct styles, Robles, 45, and Paredes, 48, have shown a firm commitment to pro-women principles.
"We want to lead the Democratic Revolutionary Party because we want a party committed to women and their dreams of liberty and equality," Robles said during the launch of her candidacy here on Jan. 16.
Robles, a professor and union leader before serving as the first woman mayor of Mexico City from 1999 to 2000, is well known for her defense of abortion rights. While heading Mexico City, she worked hard to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, danger to the mother's health or fetal defects.
Paredes, ambassador to Cuba from 1993 to 1994 and now speaker of the House of Representatives, rose to power in 1987 when she became the second woman to serve as a state governor when she was elected to run her home state of Tlaxcala. She was recognized by the Washington-based International Women's Forum in 1995 as a "Woman Who Makes a Difference" for her efforts to open the political sphere to women.
If Robles and Paredes are elected presidents of their parties--observers say it's difficult to predict the outcome of either run--they have good chances of becoming candidates in the next presidential election in 2006. Their parties might form a coalition, however, in which case only one of them would run for president.
Both candidates face a stiff competition in the upcoming March elections--the second year of Mexico's transition to competitive elections--even though both parties currently have women at their helms, Amalia Garcia for the Democratic Revolutionary Party and Dulce Maria Sauri for the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Political observers here say that Robles and Paredes are cut from different cloth from the current female leadership.
"There's a big gap between these women with so much political history and the mass of women who participate in politics," said Patricia Mercado, chair of Diversa Feminist Political Organization.
Yet, at the same time, women belonging to existing parties are also trying to reform the electoral code: They are urging a legal requirement that 30 percent of all parties' candidates be women, a policy that the law currently considers only a recommendation. Representatives of the four parties made the announcement on Jan. 16, anticipating the legislators' return to Congress on March 15 following a recess.
Right now, women comprise only 16 percent of Mexican legislators. Main parties have adopted internal rules of affirmative action, but when they pick candidates, they usually slate women to run for deputy positions or in locations where they have no chance of being elected.
"We want to share the responsibility of a new country, of a true democracy, and above all, the most important thing: We don't want to be the invisible ones," said Martha Lucia Micher, head of the Democratic Revolutionary Party's Women Secretary.
Some Women Turn Invisibility to Their Advantage
"Our political structure--be it parties, unions, or any space of possible political participation for women--is still very much misogynistic," said Gloria Chale, president of the Mexico City section of Diversa. "Now that women's participation is trendy, they have to show us like vases on every table."
This attitude might not be open, but it is felt every day, said Elena Tapia, elected in 2000 to be the head of the Iztacalco district of Mexico City. She says men lack confidence in women legislators and that women have to prove themselves twice over any man in the job.
But sometimes, women can take advantage of their lack of political experience.
"People have the idea that governments are run in a corrupt manner," Tapia added. "Women being new to politics, people trust them more, in terms of honesty, of an honorable way of dealing with resources, even of a more responsible handling of things, like a more efficient administration, just because all our lives, we've been accustomed to make the most out of the family budget."
The difficulties for women in Mexico's political parties are such that some women, including Mercado, Chale and Tapia have decided to create a feminist party, For Equity and Ecology, in order to increase women's political participation and representation.
Getting more women into decision-making positions is essential, Tapia said, because if children and teen-agers are accustomed to seeing women in leading positions, then women's political participation will become more natural.
"The idea is also finding new ways of making politics," Mercado said. "Finding new ways where everyday life counts."
Laurence Pantin is a journalist based in Mexico City.
For more information:
Pacific News Service"University Struggle Likely To ResoundIn Mexican Presidential Elections": http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/6.03/000214-strike.html
Discovery: Research and Scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin:"Women in Mexican Politics": http://www.utexas.edu/admin/opa/discovery/disc1998v15n2/disc_women.html
Global Women's Leadership: http://www.icrw.org/leadership.htm
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/793/context/archive
Women's Enews
Run Date: 01/24/02
By Laurence Pantin
WEnews correspondent
Women in Mexico are seeking to take charge as political changes sweep the nation, running for top offices, talking about forming their own parties and openly campaigning for women's rights.
MEXICO CITY (WOMENSENEWS)--Women are running for president of two of this country's leading political parties, galvanizing women's rights advocates who say the candidates offer exciting visions of the future in Mexico.
Rosario Robles is looking to head the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party and Beatriz Paredes is competing for the presidency of the centrist Revolutionary Institutional Party.
At the same time, some women leaders are discussing forming their own political party and those working within the current party structures are pushing for a change that would require that 30 percent or more of all candidates be female.
Even though they defend different political programs and have very distinct styles, Robles, 45, and Paredes, 48, have shown a firm commitment to pro-women principles.
"We want to lead the Democratic Revolutionary Party because we want a party committed to women and their dreams of liberty and equality," Robles said during the launch of her candidacy here on Jan. 16.
Robles, a professor and union leader before serving as the first woman mayor of Mexico City from 1999 to 2000, is well known for her defense of abortion rights. While heading Mexico City, she worked hard to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, danger to the mother's health or fetal defects.
Paredes, ambassador to Cuba from 1993 to 1994 and now speaker of the House of Representatives, rose to power in 1987 when she became the second woman to serve as a state governor when she was elected to run her home state of Tlaxcala. She was recognized by the Washington-based International Women's Forum in 1995 as a "Woman Who Makes a Difference" for her efforts to open the political sphere to women.
If Robles and Paredes are elected presidents of their parties--observers say it's difficult to predict the outcome of either run--they have good chances of becoming candidates in the next presidential election in 2006. Their parties might form a coalition, however, in which case only one of them would run for president.
Both candidates face a stiff competition in the upcoming March elections--the second year of Mexico's transition to competitive elections--even though both parties currently have women at their helms, Amalia Garcia for the Democratic Revolutionary Party and Dulce Maria Sauri for the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Political observers here say that Robles and Paredes are cut from different cloth from the current female leadership.
"There's a big gap between these women with so much political history and the mass of women who participate in politics," said Patricia Mercado, chair of Diversa Feminist Political Organization.
Yet, at the same time, women belonging to existing parties are also trying to reform the electoral code: They are urging a legal requirement that 30 percent of all parties' candidates be women, a policy that the law currently considers only a recommendation. Representatives of the four parties made the announcement on Jan. 16, anticipating the legislators' return to Congress on March 15 following a recess.
Right now, women comprise only 16 percent of Mexican legislators. Main parties have adopted internal rules of affirmative action, but when they pick candidates, they usually slate women to run for deputy positions or in locations where they have no chance of being elected.
"We want to share the responsibility of a new country, of a true democracy, and above all, the most important thing: We don't want to be the invisible ones," said Martha Lucia Micher, head of the Democratic Revolutionary Party's Women Secretary.
Some Women Turn Invisibility to Their Advantage
"Our political structure--be it parties, unions, or any space of possible political participation for women--is still very much misogynistic," said Gloria Chale, president of the Mexico City section of Diversa. "Now that women's participation is trendy, they have to show us like vases on every table."
This attitude might not be open, but it is felt every day, said Elena Tapia, elected in 2000 to be the head of the Iztacalco district of Mexico City. She says men lack confidence in women legislators and that women have to prove themselves twice over any man in the job.
But sometimes, women can take advantage of their lack of political experience.
"People have the idea that governments are run in a corrupt manner," Tapia added. "Women being new to politics, people trust them more, in terms of honesty, of an honorable way of dealing with resources, even of a more responsible handling of things, like a more efficient administration, just because all our lives, we've been accustomed to make the most out of the family budget."
The difficulties for women in Mexico's political parties are such that some women, including Mercado, Chale and Tapia have decided to create a feminist party, For Equity and Ecology, in order to increase women's political participation and representation.
Getting more women into decision-making positions is essential, Tapia said, because if children and teen-agers are accustomed to seeing women in leading positions, then women's political participation will become more natural.
"The idea is also finding new ways of making politics," Mercado said. "Finding new ways where everyday life counts."
Laurence Pantin is a journalist based in Mexico City.
For more information:
Pacific News Service"University Struggle Likely To ResoundIn Mexican Presidential Elections": http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/6.03/000214-strike.html
Discovery: Research and Scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin:"Women in Mexican Politics": http://www.utexas.edu/admin/opa/discovery/disc1998v15n2/disc_women.html
Global Women's Leadership: http://www.icrw.org/leadership.htm
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/793/context/archive
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