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Blue Jeans in Torreon

Blue Jeans in Torreon. Historical context. Ancient Maya and Aztec civilizations: Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan. Historicizing Blue Jean Manufacturing in Torreon. Colonial legacies Depopulation Land alienation Peasant exploitation and strict division of racial castes

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Blue Jeans in Torreon

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  1. Blue Jeans in Torreon

  2. Historical context • Ancient Maya and Aztec civilizations: Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan

  3. Historicizing Blue Jean Manufacturing in Torreon • Colonial legacies • Depopulation • Land alienation • Peasant exploitation and strict division of racial castes • 1821: Independence from Spain, but still ruled by criollo elites • 1848: Mexican American War…..Mexico loses Texas, SW US • 1876-1910: The Porfiriato: • Dictatorship, modernization, US buys Mexico, land concentration, starvation among Indians • 1910: Mexican revolution • Some redistribution of land—very uneven • Post WWII : • Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) • Uneven subsidies and development in different parts of the country • 1992: Communal land can be sold again

  4. Mexico 2003 • NAFTA 1994 • Protectionism (ISI) relatively open, market driven • 8th largest exporter: $52 Billion (1993)$166 Billion (2000) • Net FDI: $3.5 Billion $24.7 Billion • “Middle income” country ~$5000 per capita • Movement towards democracy? • PRI officially out of powerVicente Fox PAN (center right) • Ciudad Juarez murders….no one wants to investigate

  5. Aggregate Social Indicators • Under-five mortality rate dropped from 46 to 29 per 1,000 between 1990 and 2000 • Access to clean water86 percent • Literacy rate is over 90 percent • HOW DO THESE STATISTICS OBSCURE DIFFERENCE?

  6. “Two Mexico's”regional disparities

  7. Two Mexico’s Transportation system

  8. Two Mexico'sEconomic/Social Disparities • Minimum wage declined from $5-$4/day. • 50% of the workforce makes < $8/day • Informal economies: 15% of pop. • Infant Mortality: 13% v. 52% (20th percentiles) • Education: (7 years av.) 12.1% v. 1.1% (10th percentiles) • HDI: 55th after Cuba, Belarus, Trinidad/Tobago

  9. Rural –urban disparities: conditions since NAFTA decline • Agricultural workers: 8 million6.5 million • New land ownership laws • Influx of cheap US corn • Little support for non-traditional exports • Food prices grew by 257% • Migration to the US 2X • “The countryside can’t take it anymore”

  10. “Huge sucking sound to the East” China

  11. Does Maquiladora growth benefit workers or just owners of corporations?

  12. Torreon, Coahila, Mexico

  13. Blue Jeans in Torreon • Commodity chain approach Production and Marketing Chains also Social Movements, Governments • Bair and Gereffi, 2001: “By focusing on the chain or organizational network as the unit of analysis, rather than the firm, interesting questions about power, governance and the dynamics of chains emerge.”

  14. Maquiladora Growth

  15. Apparel Employment

  16. Apparel industry indicators for Torreon

  17. Main clients for Torreon apparel exports

  18. Pre-NAFTA Manufacturer Dominated Assembly Network in Torreon

  19. Post NAFTA Full Package Networks in Torreon

  20. US¯Torreon apparel commodity chain activities and location

  21. Top 10 apparel manufacturers in Torreon, Mexico¯¯July 2000

  22. Changing Labor Conditions?-upside • For some skilled jobs (cutting and laundry), labor “shortages” due to need for more skilled labor • High turnover- Labor wars • Higher wages for some skilled laborers • Upscale labels promote improved working conditions • New factories are often better than US apparel factories • Codes of Conduct displayed (but in English!!)

  23. Changing Labor Conditions?-downside • Concentration of ownership in few extended families • Increased failure of small and medium sized local firms • Downward pressure on wages for subcontractors • Destruction of existing networks of cooperation • Distrust and greater competition among local firms • Higher wages must be seen in context of 1994 devaluation of peso decline in living standards since then • Male privilege • Only workers in “skilled labor”: cutting and laundry • more readily promoted to skilled and management positions • Mexican Government has reduced the power of unions to a minimum

  24. How can we better explain these conclusions? Extend commodity chain analysis to include social movements in the consuming countries and government institutions in developing countries

  25. Factory Code Initiatives in North • UK: Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) • US/Europe: SA 8000 (Social Accountability 8000) • US: • Workers Rights Consortium • University Clothing • Fair Labor Association (FLA) • Adidas-Salomon, Eddie Bauer, GEAR for Sports, Joy Athletic, Liz Claiborne, Nordstrom, Nike, Patagonia, Reebok, Phillips-Van Heusen, Polo Ralph Lauren and Zephyr Graf-X. • WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production)Lower Standards

  26. Maquila Solidarity Network • Concern for workers rights and environmental/health • “Toxic Fashions” and “Blue jean blues” require toxic chemicals • Mercerization: Sulphur, caustic soda, acid • Tinting and Overdyes-manually crunched, rubbed and sponged • Bleaching and Stonewashing: Amylase, Laccase • Drying and Baking: Toxic fumes from ovens • Pollution of Water Supplies

  27. Linking networks transnationallyacross Middle America • “Network of Central American Women in Solidarity with Maquila Workers” negotiate code of conduct with Nicaraguan Labor Ministry

  28. Government influences • Mexican government antagonistic to union organizing and hesitant to investigate violent crimes against women. • Some cross border organizing to combat some environmental concerns • Torreon Chamber of Commerce http://www.torreon.gob.mx/

  29. Bair and Gereffi Conclusions “We have argued that the arrival of new buyers in Torreon has resulted in upgrading, both at the industry and at the firm level. But, the absence of an institutional environment that would help further diffuse the benefits of Torreon's export boom beyond the first tier of full-package firms means that there are limits to this process of upgrading, and they may have already been reached.” (2001) “Even within Mexico’s most dynamic apparel cluster, Torreon, the benefits generated by post-NAFTA export dynamism are contingent and transitory. Globalization entails uneven development for firms and workers both within and across regions and nations, and viewing the process through the lens of the commodity chains framework contributes to our understanding of who wins and who loses, and why.” (2003)

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