Fashion industry takes the measure of women for labor exploitation

“Women are the preferred people” to work in the garment industry globally, the lawyers from La Círcula, a feminist legal organization, conclude crudely, after an investigation into the working conditions for women in that sector.

To the fashion industry, women represent cheap labor, they consider them more obedient; It is wonderful for him that due to systemic circumstances they accept the precarious jobs offered in their maquilas and, furthermore, that they work irregular hours.

Some maquilas have found spaces to also use the workforce of girls and boys. This is part of what the members of the Círculo Feminista de Análisis Jurídico, the full name of the organization behind the report, found. Labor reform: Analysis from a gender and fashion industry perspective.

Spring is barely on the horizon, but the collections for this season are no longer in trend. Consumers are driven to think about what is coming for winter and, above all, to buy it. Every item we buy we used it between seven and 10 times and then we throw it away, says Selma Maxinez, from La Círcula.

The clothing business wants produce the fastest possible at the lowest cost. So the model of many businessmen is based on “misery wages”, subcontracting and days of up to 18 hours.

Worldwide, women make up the majority of the workforce in this sector; in Mexico they represent 68 percent. Meanwhile, 57% of all the people who work in the manufacture of clothing in our country and who do not have a fixed salary, written contract or social security are women, says the report.

“Two out of three people who work in the fashion industry without remuneration are women. Nearly six out of 10 subcontracted people are also women.”

At the national level, this industry generates more than 2.1 trillion pesos of annual income, “representing 2.4% of the GDP of the manufacturing sector.” Of these profits, the companies allocate only 4% to the payment of salaries, according to the group of civil organizations Citizen Action Against Poverty (ACFP).

“Almost two thirds of those who work in this sector do not have a sufficient income to buy two basic baskets necessary to support themselves and another person,” says ACFP.

Women dress precariously

“At the end of the 1970s, multiple assembly plants began to be installed in border cities such as Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Matamoros, Mexicali and Nogales,” recalls La Círcula in the report.

The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) boosted the industry and “it was mainly women who took these jobs” because the maquila scheme “consists of cheap labor and tax incentives for local governments.” In this way, “they began to move throughout the country” with the same model.

As “unemployment among men rose and the minimum wage fell, women were ‘pushed’ to look for jobs in order to find ways to help with the family income”. And so, they feminized the workforce Mexican in this economic activity.

There are several reasons why women have become the favorites of this industry. Women in Mexico take care of about 80% of unpaid household and care work, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Not only do they lack money, but also time, the lawyers from La Circula point out. That’s why they accept a garment work that they can do at home, but informally, with very low wages, without social security or any benefits.

Or they take work in the maquila, with hours that could be convenient for them at first, but which they soon discover can last up to 18 continuous hours, as the feminist organization documented. “Women are seen as more compliant, so they are less likely to join unions, compared to men, so they tend to agree to carry out repetitive and monotonous work”.

Another advantage for the maquilas is that, “in terms of ability, women are credited with greater capacity for detailed work that require more speed.

Violation of your labor rights

Some of the violations of the rights of women workers in the clothing industry documented by La Círcula are:

• Workspaces that are cramped, poorly ventilated, or in unsanitary conditions
• Lack of written contracts
• precarious wages
• Long hours that include overtime, exceeding the legal weekly limit
• Minimum break times
• Lack of seniority premiums
• Less vacation days and maternity leave
• Aguinaldo less than what is stipulated by law

“And if they make a mistake, they are fined up to two-thirds of their salary.” They also work under outsourcing models that are already prohibited by the Federal Labor Law (LFT).

The fragmented supply chain with a high level of outsourcing makes the labor inspection. “Large companies in the clothing industry hire medium-sized companies to manufacture their products and the latter, in turn, subcontract to small and micro-maquiladoras.” Some operate virtually underground.

Recommendations and good practices

The 2019 labor reform launched a new labor justice system and created new conditions to democratize unions and promote the organization of workers and workers to defend their rights.

For this investigation, through 102 requests for access to information, the La Círcula team consulted the authorities in charge of implementing the reform to find out what they are doing to incorporate the gender perspective.

The questions were addressed to the executive and judicial powers federal and state. The vast majority did not respond, and of those that did, few have real actions to mainstream the gender perspective, and fewer concrete results.

Among the few good practices, it stands out that San Luis Potosí installed a gender equality unit in the Labor Conciliation Center.

And although the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) has done a great job and actions that can be seen, says Selma Maxinez, in terms of gender the agency responded that “they have only issued the Action Plan to incorporate the gender perspective in the implementation of the reform labor justice system”.

Neither the local nor the federal secretariats indicated the inspection as an action to guarantee the rights of women in the workplace.

Therefore, the opacity and secrecy of the companies and the lack of actions with gender perspective in the implementation of the labor reform have as a consequence “that access to labor justice is extremely complicated” for women, adolescents, girls and boys who are employed in the fashion industry.

For this reason, one of the specific recommendations to the STPS is that it “put the Action Plan into operation as soon as possible.” They also ask you to accompany the process of reform and creation of laws to implement Convention 190 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on workplace violence.

And they ask the Judiciary to “strengthen actions to mainstream the gender perspective in the new labor justice system”, among many other recommendations contained in the extensive report.