“The Israelites went seven times around Jericho, and that was after they felt defeated,” a recently-fired maquila workers told us resolutely. “We think maybe this time we’re on our sixth turn.”
We met several ex-maquila workers in the General
Workers’ Center, which offers free legal advice and
representation. When we walked into the small building, I saw a poster of ants
with army helmets and guns trained on a boot. “Nos
tienen miedo porque no tenemos miedo,” the poster said. “They fear us because we have no fear.”
And the
people we met certainly were fearless. All the workers we met had been fired from a Korean-owned car parts factory, which manufactures electrical harnesses for cars like Hyundai and Kia. The plant has been broadly condemned
for the treatment of its workers. Among other gross violations, these workers
were only allowed to use bathroom twice a day.
A year and a
half prior, a union had formed, but the company refused to recognize it. Just
before the date that had been set for negotiations, all 9 union leaders were
fired on the same day without reason—one while pregnant, which is illegal in
Honduras. Over the next few weeks, 120 unionized workers were also fired.
Now the
workers are fighting to get their jobs back and to get their union to be
recognized. When asked why they would even want to go back to the place that
had mistreated them, they said “We’re taking this risk for the others who are
still there.” Even if they wanted to find another job, the common practice of
blacklisting would keep any other maquila from hiring them.
At the end of the day, I left the Workers' office wondering what we can do with all this information. How can we take the good and the bad and the
marginal and roll it around in our heads and not just be paralyzed into
inaction by all the different voices in this argument? These are questions we
put to everyone we met.
“Write
letters,” the union leader said. “Now that you know, you have a
responsibility.” In a
way, these giant corporations work for us,
those of us who buy t-shirts and underwear. And the maquila workers knew
this. “We don’t get anywhere without international involvement,” they said.
“So, we’re
pretty new to this world of social media,” said Stan, from the corporate
offices of Fruit of the Loom. “We only got a Facebook a few years ago. But my
daughters are teaching me. And that’s probably the best way to let companies
know what you think. We really do have someone reading that stuff.”
“A lot of
our consumers want us to have a certain standard,” a tour guide said. If enough
people raise their voices, companies listen. Companies change.
Maybe the
biggest thing is that we need to change our expectations as consumers.
Globalization expands our backyard and changes who we think of as our neighbor.
Whether we realize it or not, we’re connected to the people who made our
t-shirts. What we do affects them. We don’t get to pretend it doesn’t.
For some
people this is going to mean rejecting maquilas altogether—buying local or
used. But this only opts people out of the system and still leaves workers
without defenders
When people
are unable to make enough money to live, this is a human rights issue that
should attract everyone's attention. But it has special
meaning for Christians, who are told to “Defend the cause of the weak and
fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and
needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3,4). This
commandment is repeated throughout the Bible in echoes that remind us what God
desires of us. He is waiting to empower those who fight for his justice.
If the maquila workers keep
walking around Jericho, and if we blow the trumpets that we have, it won’t be long before the
walls come tumbling down.
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