UDREY'S MISSILES
A weekly newsletter dedicated to the peaceful
reform of the United States government.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
One of the well-established laws of economics is the law of supply and
demand. If the demand is constant and supply increases the price will go
down. If the supply is limited and the demand is constant the price will go
up. Almost everyone would agree that this applies to commodities, but few
have considered the fact that it also applies to human beings.
With the advent of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and
the opening of our southern border with Mexico a number of things happened.
Manufacturers operating in Mexico now had a ready market for their products.
The demand was there for the goods that could be manufactured in Mexico so
much cheaper than they could be made in the United States. The big savings
for these manufacturers is the cost of labor because the supply of labor in
that part of North America is huge. Millions of people living in Mexico
today not only exist in poverty, but they are also starving. There are
about one million workers in the four thousand maquiladoras south of the Rio
Grande.. The law of supply and demand operates, and some observers have
called it a race to the bottom to see who can pay the least and how bad they
can make working conditions. Below is an excerpt taken from an article
appearing in the New York Times which tells us what has happened to a
typical
worker, who we will call Mary:
Mary's last employer was Orion Apparel, a plant that manufactures shirts
for Gitano, a subsidiary of Fruit of the Loom. Mary was paid 38 cents an
hour in a sweatshop that employed girls as young as 14. When the big orders
from the U.S. companies come in the weekday schedule is 7:30 a.m. to 10:30
p.m., a 15-hour shift. Saturday is the long day: 7:30 a.m until Sunday at 6
a.m,.a 22-hour shift! The vast majority of the maquiladora workers are
poverty-stricken girls and young women. (Mary, for example, lives with four
relatives in a one-room shack with no running water.) The companies make no
secret of their preference for young females. A common explanation is that
girls at about the age of 16 are at their peak of hand and eye coordination,
perfect for the factories. What they do not mention is that young girls
are
the most docile of all workers, less likely to object to abuse or to fight
for any rights. Inside the factories the youngsters are worked like demons.
Talking is forbidden. Bathroom visits are limited to two a day. Requests
for
medical attention are discouraged. Wages (some say $35.00 a week) paid
there
are so low they will not even cover the food necessary to satisfy minimal
nutrition requirements. The owners of these companies can do this because
there is an almost unlimited supply of labor, and the law of supply and
demand operates unchecked.
New York Times, 26 July 1995 by Bob Herbert
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