Testing NAFTA's Labor Side Agreement
Bacon, David
Norberto Cordoba sacrificed his job, trying to end conditions in his factory so dangerous that he feared the lives of his co-workers were at risk. C6rdoba was employed at the Han Young...
...that GE threatened to close its plant, and fired a number of workers after they were interviewed on the Macneil-Lehrer Newshour...
...A representative of another government-affiliated union, the Revolutionary Union of the Working Class, began showing up at the factory almost daily...
...Although this company had a union too, it was not like those he had known before...
...Garza's sympathetic treatment of the workers contrasted remarkably with past NAO proceedings...
...It is still a race against time, however...
...ut last February in San Diego, things had changed...
...Gore's office reportedly called Congressman Bonior...
...But it quickly started to unravel...
...Parties who have brought previous complaints say they were met with indifference bordering on hostility, as well as a total lack of enforcement...
...Kang denies the company ever made such a promise...
...I have always been a union man," he says...
...On December 4, in front of the factory, 32 workers voted for the independent union for a second time while 27 voted against it...
...Workers there tried to elect their Mexican government was illegally obstructing independent unions...
...Another complaint was filed by the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, assisted by the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), the American Friends Service Committee and Mexico's National Association of Democratic Lawyers, on behalf of workers at the Sony plant in Ciudad Laredo...
...Although workers received temporary passes to cross the border the day before, A worker when they presented them election h at the San Ysidro crossing at 8:00 a.m...
...And when Gephardt and Gore face off two years from now for the Democratic presidential nomination, free trade and jobs will be two key issues...
...In the wake of the stoppage, the NAO complaint was amended to include allegations that the Mexican government was not enforcing health and safety regulations at Han Young...
...Norberto C6rdoba is from Veracruz as well...
...At first it seemed the deal would hold, and six of the fired workers were rehired...
...He was not among those rehired in December...
...Despite the fact that conditions in the plant were frighteningly dangerous, the company union had never insisted...
...Its representatives only come to the factory when there is trouble, to tell the workers to go back to work...
...As the Administration sought to line up support, Democratic Representatives David Bonior and Richard Gephardt met with other members of Congress and told them about the Han Young case...
...Within months, all three were fired, as Han Young moved to purge the activists from the plant...
...This means that dumping the Han Young case, like others before it, is not an option-no small irony for activists who have spent years organizing workers on the border and who are implacable foes of free trade...
...But I want to go back to Han Young," he says...
...The NAO hearing was held in Washington, making it virtually inaccessible to workers who wanted to testify...
...It worked well...
...If the factory's workers voted for the independent union again in a second election, and their supporters withdrew the NAO complaint, the board would certify the results...
...But not all the new Veracruz workers are proving to be such docile pawns...
...For three hours, revolving teams of agents held their credentials for verification and refused to allow the workers to pass...
...In the end, even with substantial Republican support, Clinton failed to come up with the necessary votes and pulled fast track off the floor...
...Can or will the NAO put him back to work...
...There is no question that the purpose of free trade is to create favorable conditions for foreign investment," says Hernindez...
...Each of the three NAFTA countries has such an office to hear complaints about the other two...
...Han Young would rehire the fired workers and bargain with STIMAHCS...
...The government shared their concern...
...But the labor board still refused to permit negotiations, prompting the hunger strikers to chain themselves to the doors...
...The case has become a political litmus test...
...workers as well...
...He had only been working there three months...
...I don't have enough to eat or send money to my family," he complained bitterly...
...On the border, those conditions include low guess we'll have to pay the price of lending some credibility to a policy we oppose...
...It needs credibility in Congress to blunt criticism from Bonior, Gephardt and other Democratic Party opponents...
...8 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 8 NACILA REPORT ON THE AMERICASUPDATE / LABOR Inaction in these and subsequent NAO cases is not surprising...
...Buying out workers is a common way for Mexican employers to settle the cases of "troublemakers" without giving them back their jobs...
...In Veracruz, where I am from, I was a union leader at all the shops where I worked...
...As the fast gained publicity and support, the Mexican and U.S...
...The company may be undermining its own plan to pit new workers against the independent union...
...The first complaint was filed by the United Electrical Workers and the Teamsters in 1994, after General Electric Corporation defeated a STIMAHCS organizing effort in Ciudad Judrez...
...While larger agendas jockey against each other, it remains to be seen whether NAFTA's labor side agreement can actually help just one person survive daily life on the border...
...The situation grew more tense in January...
...In late February, C6rdoba's case was brought before the National Administrative Office (NAO) of the U.S...
...For months following the June strike, Han Young workers sought to join the independent Union for Workers in NACILA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS c 6UPDATE / LABOR The struggle to form an independent union at the Han Young maquila factory in Tijuana was met with massive firings...
...On October 6, workers forced the Tijuana office of the Mexican labor board to hold an election to choose between the two unions...
...Six workers leaped out of the way, narrowly escaping V1 7 7 Vol XXXI, No 6 MAY/JUNE 1998UPDATE / LABOR death or serious injury...
...What was I supposed to do...
...After the government denied certification in November, charges were filed with the NAO by the San Diego Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers, Mexico's National Association of Democratic Lawyers, and other organizations...
...Even getting to the hearing was not easy...
...But although Han Young produces solely for Hyundai, the corporation's representatives denied responsibility...
...I didn't know if I would ever see the inside of the plant again...
...All the maquiladora owners were worried that an independent union at Han Young would encourage workers to organize at other factories, and drive up wages," Hernmndez says...
...When they asked what the problem was, they got a two-word reply: Han Young...
...Busloads of workers are arriving from Veracruz, where big layoffs in shipyards and oilfields are producing hoards of unemployed welders...
...Workers struck again for a day on January 6 to force a government safety inspection...
...But when workers tried to register their union again, the labor board again refused...
...The legal process usually lasts over three years...
...The Administration intends to use their most important case to win credibility for a policy which they blame for workers' poverty and lack of rights...
...Han Young's original union was the Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Farmers (CROC), an organization tightly allied to the country's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI...
...The unions charged own leadership in the company union, and were beaten by guards and police in front of the plant while protesting election fraud...
...C6rdoba was employed at the Han Young plant in Tijuana, making truck chassis and shipping containers for the huge Hyundai Corporation industrial complex...
...Under intense pressure, the labor board finally agreed to a deal...
...According to Enrique Hernmndez, who represents the independent union, "companies sign protection agreements with the CROC in order to ensure uninterrupted production...
...According to Mary Tong, director of the San Diego Support Committee, "under Mexican law manufacturers are responsible for the actions of their contractors...
...the Metal, Steel, Iron and Allied Industries (STIMAHCS...
...I can't even go home...
...Department of Labor at a hearing in San Diego...
...He finally sent for his family a few weeks ago...
...the long trek north to the border...
...In the United States, a network of union and community activists began picketing car dealerships belonging to the Hyundai Corporation...
...Carlos Pdrez Cruz, hired in Veracruz in September, says Han Young's recruiter promised he would make 1,200 pesos, or $66, a week...
...Only after NAO Secretary Irasema Garza personally phoned the border station were they allowed to proceed...
...Pdrez's pay stub for a week in late February shows he made only 558 pesos, including overtime and an incentive bonus...
...In fact, since NAFTA's passage in 1993, unions and workerrights activists in both countries charge that enforcement of the labor side agreement has been a sham...
...The Mexican telephone workers union charged in 1995 that the U.S...
...After the NAO hearings, thenLabor Secretary Robert Reich met with his Mexican counterpart Santiago Ofiate, and agreed that the from the Han Young factory (right) votes for the independent union, STIMAHCS, in an eld on October 6, 1997 at the offices of the Mexican labor board...
...government had failed to protect San Francisco workers at Sprint Corporation when 235 of them were fired and their workplace was closed a week before a vote on union representation...
...Kang says the company offered C6rdoba money to give up his claim to his job, and that he accepted...
...Meanwhile, Han Young is hiring new workers...
...The NAO is the enforcement mechanism in the United States for the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, NAFTA's labor side agreement...
...If the NAO case helps Han Young workers stabilize their union, and the idea spreads to other workers and plants, then I Buying out workers is a common way for Mexican employers to settle the cases of "troublemakers" without giving them back their jobs...
...Kang defends the government position...
...Even if I didn't eat and slept in the street, it would take two weeks to make that...
...t first, the charges seemed to go nowhere...
...So he did what millions of Mexicans have done over the last few decades-he made David Bacon is an editor at Pacific News Service in San Francisco, and a freelance writer and photographer documenting issues of labor...
...I was out of work for a long time, living a thousand miles from my family, who had nothing to support them at home," he says...
...No further action was taken...
...They alleged that the labor board illegally permitted management personnel to vote, and illegally refused to certify the election results...
...Eighty percent of the workers really wanted another union, not STIMAHCS, but they weren't permitted to vote," he claims...
...He was a factory worker and a labor organizer for many years...
...Despite being a skilled welder, C6rdoba could only make 300 pesos a week in Veracruz...
...The CROC collects money directly from the employers and holds no meetings...
...It did nothing for us...
...Their work stoppage was not legal, so we fired them...
...Such concerns are real...
...Kang is insisting that the new workers make up 80% of the workforce, and that they support the new government-affiliated union...
...At Han Young, he found a job that paid him almost twice as much...
...Although hearings in this case also documented extensive violations of the National Labor Relations Act, no corrective action was ever taken...
...I told the company I would even be willing to start as a new worker again, without my seniority...
...Seeing no progress, however, a small group of fired Han Young activists started a hunger strike on November 20 in front of the state government building in downtown Tijuana...
...Bad publicity and possible lost sales, they hoped, would force Hyundai to intervene...
...Just after New Years, a crane carrying a one-ton truck chassis almost collided with another, and the chassis fell...
...When the NAO hearing finally opened in San Diego on February 18, over two dozen workers lined up to testify about the failure of the legal process to guarantee their union rights, and the Mexican government's unwillingness to enforce safety regulations...
...Pressure grew more intense during November's debate over fasttrack legislation, which would have given the Clinton Administration the authority to negotiate future trade agreements, including the expansion of NAFTA to other countries, without amendment by Congress...
...There are no penalties or fines under the side agreement against governments which violate workers' union rights...
...C6rdoba's case was included in a complaint alleging that the Mexican government had refused to allow Han Young workers to leave the old company union and form an independent one...
...governments grew desperate to defuse the Han Young issue...
...STIMAHCS supporters say that during the January work stoppage, the Veracruz workers did not come to the plant to demonstrate, but they did not show up for work either...
...The Clinton Administration has already announced it intends to reintroduce fast-track legislation this spring...
...I am being evicted from my room because I cannot pay the rent...
...It was a union that only protected the boss," he recalls...
...The NAO process failed U.S...
...Meanwhile, the company refused to bargain with STIMAHCS representative Enrique Herndndez, and forbade him to enter the plant...
...Labor organizers are using this case to put NAFTA's labor side agreement to the test...
...In Mexico, according to Han Young plant manager Pablo Won Young Kang, "if you want to strike, you must get permission first...
...The fare to Veracruz is 1,200 pesos...
...I have been part of all this...
...C6rdoba was chosen by his fellow workers as one of three representatives from the new independent union on the safety committee...
...Around the same time, leaking water poured through the roof during torrential rainstorms...
...Since being fired, he has worked short jobs in construction, living day to day, trying to send money home...
...The complaint was summarily dismissed...
...After fast track bombed, representatives from Vice President Al wages and company unions, so it's hard to give any credibility to the labor side agreement, which was just window dressing to get us to accept NAFTA to begin with...
...Han Young managers were so surprised by the two-day strike that they made concessions to end it, finally agreeing to set up the health and safety committee required by Mexican law...
...When workers later tried to register an independent union with the local labor board, government officials turned them away...
...The Han Young election was used by fast-track opponents as a symbol of NAFTA's failure to protect workers' rights...
...It hears allegations that Mexico or Canada are not enforcing their own labor-protection laws...
...Despite the majority vote for STIMAHCS, the labor board refused to certify the results...
...The government even let the supervisors and Han Young's nurse vote," he says, "and still the company lost...
...Despite no certain job or prospects, C6rdoba has decided to settle in Tijuana...
...STIMAHCS supporters worry that the company will once again claim that a majority of workers oppose the independent union, and push for a third election...
...NAO office...
...High-voltage cables attached to welding equipment snaked through two-inch-deep puddles which spread across the floor, threatening shock and electrocution...
...The Han Young complaint is the sixth heard by the U.S...
...Workers struck the plant again in early December, and company officials finally agreed to talk...
...Last June, when his co-workers organized an independent union and walked out on strike, he joined them willingly...
...on the morning of the hearing, Border Patrol agents questioned their validity...
...immigration and interna- tional politics...
...Despite having to vote openly in front of representatives of management and the company union, 55 voted for the independent union and only 32 for the CROC...
...C6rdoba says that is ludicrous...
...But we have to use the tools that are available to us...
...Two of them testified against the company in San Diego...
Vol. 31 • May 1998 • No. 6
