What does
it look like to work in a maquila? This varies factory to factory, but the
processes are the same. Everything begins in a textile factory. T-shirts start
out in a large concrete room where spools of white yarn are fed through tubes
into a whirring, spinning cylinder-shaped machine the size of a phone booth. If
you’ve ever seen a grandmother knit socks with four needles, you’ll have an
idea of what this machine is doing, except with over 1,000 needles.
The fabric
comes down from the needles in one smooth tube that is rolled onto a bolt. When
the bolt is full, workers take it to a huge, steamy room where machines that
cost upwards of $1 million churn the fabric through softeners and dyes. Other
machines dry, iron, and preshrink the fabric. Workers monitor the machines in
the 90 degree room, most wearing face masks against the lint in the air. But
most workers are in the next room where the finished fabric is cut.
Some fabric
goes through machines that press pieces for clothing out in patterns, but most
goes to be cut by hand with mini chainsaws, cutting through a hundred layers of
t-shirt material at a time. These premade, precut pieces are sold in Honduras,
but also to El Salvador, Haiti, and other maquilas around the world. From spool
of yarn to stacks of precut sleeves takes about 48 hours. Since the machines
can’t be safely turned off, shifts work around the clock.
Maquilas buy
fabric in precut pieces. The pieces are separated by garment color and style
and given to “cells” of workers that stitch the garment together. Each t-shirt
is sewn by 8-10 people, while polo shirts take up to 22 workers. The “cells”
work in an assembly line style, so each does the same motion throughout his or
her 12-hour shift, 1800-4800 times per day, depending on how complicated the
product is. The finished garments are folded and boxed right at the cell.
Underwear is hung on racks and price tags are affixed. In most maquilas, the
workers put in 44-hour weeks, working 12 hours a day for four days, with three
days off.
Though we
visited two textile plants and two different maquilas, our visit to Fruit of
the Loom was by far our most in-depth. An entire team of workers met us at the front
of the factory. When he found out we’d be visiting, Fruit of the Loom’s
Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Stan, had decided to make his own
visit coincide with ours. Stan shook each of our hands as we entered a room
stocked with drinks, donuts, candies and snacks. They were desperate to impress
us.
Fruit of the
Loom, which manages Spalding, Russell, and Vanity Fair, employs 1,177 people in
Honduras alone. In 2008, Fruit of the Loom closed the one maquila in Honduras
that had unionized—reputedly to eliminate the union. Pressure from student
groups forced the company not only to reopen the factory, but to pay back wages
for the year that all its employees had been without work.
Stan was
understandably cautious with our group, as if he expected that any moment we
would break out into a protest. “Students against Sweatshops are really hard to
work with,” he sighed. “They’re the reason I have no hair.”
In their
credit, Fruit of the Loom has come a long way since reopening their factory.
Three of their plants now have fully recognized unions, and the company is one
of the highest-paying in the country.
They’ve also
taken steps towards environmental sustainability with a shift from traditional
coal-burning plants to new ones that burn king grass which is grown nearby. The
waste product from the dyes is organic and clean enough to be used to fertilize
the grass, creating a renewable circle of energy production and waste
treatment.
Though the
wage gap has yet to be closed, and many issues persist, it’s encouraging to see
the improvement that has happened over just a few years. It’s also important to
note that this change only happened when pressure from the inside (the desire
for unions) met pressure from the outside (students against sweatshops.) Fruit
of the Loom will do what it takes to keep a profit, and if underwear shoppers
suddenly find the ethics behind their boxer shorts important, the company will
be forced to comply.
I can’t
overstate the power of organized groups, whether that’s inside or outside of
the company. We, as shoppers, can change what we demand. But the workers
themselves are fighting for better rights too.
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