NAFTA MONITOR Canada," WALL STREET JOURNAL, December 17, 1993; Alan L. Alder, "Autos Vol. 1 (1994) -- p.1 After NAFTA," AP, December 16, 1993; "Ford Will Build More in Mexico and In- Vol. 1, No. 1 Monday, December 20, 1993 crease Its Shipments South," INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY, December 17, Headlines: 1993; Alva Senzek, "Trucks Make Comeback," EL FINANCIERO INTERNA- Vol. 2 (1995) -- p.36 COMPANIES SHIFT OPERATIONS TO MEXICO TIONAL, December 6-12, 1993. MEXICAN LABOR UNIONS TOO WEAK _________________________________________________ Vol. 3 (1996) -- p.80 MEXICO MAY NOT FOLLOW THROUGH WITH ENVIRONMENT PROMISES MEXICAN LABOR UNIONS TOO WEAK NAFTA WILL HURT MEXICAN INDUSTRIES As Mexican businesses suffer from increased com- Vol. 4 (1997) -- p.120 U.S. NAFTA PROTESTS CONTINUE petition under NAFTA, they will likely get tougher on _________________________________________________ workers to improve productivity. But an article in the Vol. 5 (1998) -- p.164 COMPANIES SHIFT OPERATIONS TO MEXICO NEW YORK TIMES says that under President Carlos In the weeks following the ratification of the North Salinas de Gortari Mexican labor unions are weaker Vol. 6 (1999) -- p.198 American Free Trade Agreement, many large compa- than they have been for 50 years and in a poor posi- nies announced plans to increase their operations in tion to deal with NAFTA's consequences. In testimony Mexico, often at the expense of U.S. or Canadian- before the U.S. Congress this year, Pharis Harvey, based manufacturing plants. executive director of the International Labor Rights Perhaps the quickest to take advantage of NAFTA Education and Research Fund, described organized Vol. 1 -- 1994 has been the auto industry. Ford Motor Company an- labor in Mexico as "sterile unions without power to Index of /Politics/NAFTA.Monitor/Volume.1 nounced it will rehire 300 laid-off Mexican auto work- represent workers." Harvey said health and safety http://www.etext.org/Politics/NAFTA.Monitor/Volume.1/ ers and spend $175 million on converting its car plant standards have deteriorated under the government in a suburb of Mexico City to meet anticipated de- controlled unions. Mexico now has the third highest Name Last modified Size Description mand for automobiles there. Ford said it could not rate of industrial accidents in the world. Parent Directory 15-Feb-1999 11:13 - expand its U.S. plant in Kansas City, Missouri because Following the recent deaths of two young workers nm-01.001 09-Jan-1994 18:42 8k of structural problems. NAFTA "solves a dilemma for who had inhaled toxic fumes at the Calinor rubber nm-01.002 09-Jan-1994 18:42 8k us" said a Ford spokesperson. Despite plans to in- plant, two Tijuana-based organizations launched an nm-01.003 11-Jan-1994 23:24 8k crease operations in Mexico, Ford said it expects its educational campaign among maquiladora workers. nm-01.004 25-Jan-1994 10:56 9k exports to Mexico from the U.S. and Canada to in- Casa de la Mujer and the Centro de Informacion y nm-01.005 30-Mar-1994 10:58 8k crease to 25,000 vehicles next year. The automaker Formacion de Trabajadores have printed posters and nm-01.006 30-Mar-1994 10:58 8k shipped 1,500 vehicles to Mexico this year. General organized educational sessions to advise maquiladora nm-01.007 30-Mar-1994 10:58 8k Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. are also expected to workers on the dangers of working with toxic chemi- nm-01.008 30-Mar-1994 10:58 10k expand production in Mexico. cals. Employees of the plant are not provided with nm-01.009 29-Aug-1994 08:29 13k Under NAFTA, automakers will be allowed to send masks or safety equipment of any kind to protect them nm-01.010 28-Sep-1994 23:53 13k $1 worth of vehicles to Mexico for every 80 cents against the toxic fumes. nm-01.011 28-Sep-1994 23:55 13k worth exported from Mexico. Currently they are only The number of maquiladoras operating in Mexico nm-01.012 29-Aug-1994 08:29 13k permitted to send $1 worth of fully assembled cars is now 2,178, an increase of 4.9 percent during the nm-01.013 28-Sep-1994 23:55 13k or trucks to Mexico for every $1.75 worth of fully first eight months of 1993, according to a study by nm-01.014 02-Sep-1994 08:45 12k built cars in Mexico and exports. the National Statistics Institute. The report said the nm-01.015 28-Sep-1994 23:55 13k The largest bus and truck manufacturer in Mexico, number of maquiladora employees rose 7.3 percent nm-01.016 28-Sep-1994 23:55 15k Consorcio G Grupo Dina S.A., agreed to purchase U.S.- this year to 544,476. nm-01.017 28-Sep-1994 23:55 12k Source: Anthony DePalma, "Mexico's Unions, Frail Now, Face Trade Pact based Motor Coach Industries International Inc. under a Blows," NEW YORK TIMES, December 14, 1993; "Health and Safety Campaign nm-01.018 28-Sep-1994 23:54 13k new merger agreement with a U.S. subsidiary. The Begins," WORKER RIGHTS NEWS, Fall 1993; "Number of Maquiladoras Grows nm-01.019 10-Oct-1994 10:36 13k merger will give Dina the right to export trucks to the by 4.9 Percent," EL FINANCIERO, December 6-12, 1993. nm-01.020 20-May-1994 13:44 9k United States. It is currently banned from doing so _________________________________________________ nm-01.021 17-Oct-1994 18:47 13k because of a contractual obligation with Chicago-based MEXICO MAY NOT FOLLOW THROUGH WITH ENVIRONMENT PROMISES nm-01.022 26-Oct-1994 00:12 13k Navistar International Corporation. Motor Coach has The Texas Center for Policy Studies says Mexico nm-01.023 31-Oct-1994 18:54 13k plants in Manitoba, North Dakota, and New Mexico. may not follow through with promises to clean up nm-01.024 26-Jan-1995 17:16 13k According to Mexico's EL FINANCIERO newspaper, the environment. "When we were debating NAFTA, nm-01.025 08-Dec-1994 19:25 13k NAFTA will also make it easier for European and Asian they had to come to the table and talk. We made some nm-01.026 26-Jan-1995 17:16 13k auto manufacturers to expand truck production and real progress," said Researcher Domingo Gonzalez. nm-01.027 26-Jan-1995 17:16 12k leasing operations in Mexico. Honda has already an- "Now the incentive to listen to those voices is gone." nm-01.028 28-Dec-1994 16:25 12k nounced it will shift its auto manufacturing facilities President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and U.S. Presi- nm-01.029 28-Dec-1994 16:25 13k from Canada to the western coast of Mexico. "The dent Bill Clinton agreed to spend more than $8 bil- nm-01.030 26-Jan-1995 17:16 13k pieces are in place to give U.S. multinationals a run lion over the next eight years on infrastructure and nm-01.031 26-Jan-1995 17:16 13k for their money, right in the territory that most as- environmental cleanup projects. sumed was annexed under NAFTA," writes EL Gonzalez speculates the Mexican government may be FINANCIERO. NAFTA negotiators hammered out the more interested in funding profitable industrial develop- details of an auto deal that would set local integra- ment projects than much needed waste water treatment tion limits specifically targeted at Asian and Euro- facilities. "The border has been ignored for generations," pean exports of passenger cars. But limits are ap- said Gonzalez. "Who's to say that won't continue?" All highlights parently still low enough to make it economically ef- Source: Leon Lazaroff, "The Polluted Border," EL FINANCIERO INTERNA- ficient for Nissan, Saab and Mercedes-Benz to pro- TIONAL, November 29-December 5, 1993. _________________________________________________ in this document duce pickup trucks and lease bus fleets in Mexico. Sources: "Trucks Make Comeback," EL FINANCIERO INTERNATIONAL, De- NAFTA WILL HURT MEXICAN INDUSTRIES cember 6-12, 1993; Kathryn Jones, "Mexican Company Agrees to Acquire U.S. Arturo Nava Bolanos, president of the Social Union have been added Bus Maker," NEW YORK TIMES, December 1, 1993; "Grupo Dina to Buy U.S. of Mexican Businesses, said Mexico's textile, elec- Bus Maker," EL FINANCIERO INTERNATIONAL, December 6-12, 1993; Robert tronics and agriculture industries will be hardest hit L. Simison, "Ford Plans Sharp Boost in Shipments Between Mexico, the U.S. and 1 under NAFTA. The electronics industry, for example, re- further liberalizing trade." But now that NAFTA has passed the UAW will be portedly lacks updated equipment, which will make it dif- Sources: Joseph B. Frazier, "Mexico-NAFTA," AP, December 28, 1993; Jeff checking the accuracy of those claims. "We're going ficult for them to compete with U.S. and Canadian com- Franks, "Long-Established Trade Barriers to Tumble," REUTER, December 31, to be waiting and looking with bated breath for those 1993; "Canada to Discuss Chilean Membership of NAFTA," REUTER, Decem- panies operating in Mexico. ber 31, 1993. 15,000 good-paying jobs," said UAW President Owen Mexico's farming industry is also expected to suf- ________________________________________________________ F. Bieber. "By God, I'll tell you this, we're going to fer in competition with the U.S. and Canada for pow- REBELLION IN SOUTHERN MEXICO LINKED TO NAFTA keep tabs of how many (cars) are sold there, and dered milk, chicken, meat and eggs commodities. The Hundreds of Indian guerrillas battled police in the we're going to remind people of this." National Rural Credit Bank announced last month that southern Mexican state of Chiapas to protest implemen- Already, top executives of the Big Three have cast it would provide loans to Mexican farmers in an at- tation of NAFTA and the widely reported abuses of doubt on the likelihood of those forecasts coming true.