25 ago 2010
Los parques industriales de las ciudades fronterizas mexicanas se han convertido en una “Zona segura” en la guerra contra las drogas
Por Bill Conroy
Especial para The Narco News Bulletin
25 de agosto 2010
Los impactantes titulares e imágenes que invaden nuestras vidas cotidianas al sur de la frontera de los EEUU puede llevarnos a pensar que Ciudad Juárez, México es una ciudad agonizante desangrándose por las mil heridas de la violencia diaria de la narcoguerra.
La ciudad fronteriza mexicana ha visto más de 1,900 asesinatos en lo que va del año y más de 6,200 desde enero de 2008, cuando la violencia escaló con el arribo de los militares mexicanos para brindarle “protección” a los habitantes de la ciudad.
Pero si Juárez en verdad está apunto de ser aniquilada por el derramamiento de sangre generado por el narcotráfico, entonces ¿por qué la violencia no está afectando a toda la ciudad—en donde 10,000 pequeños negocios han cerrado desde 2008 debido, en gran parte, a la ola de robos, secuestros, extorsiones y asesinatos que han sucedido en la ciudad en los últimos dos años y medio?
Casi siempre hay una excepción a la mayoría de las reglas, y en el caso de Juárez, el imperio de la violencia no se extiende a las zonas industriales, que son el hogar de al menos 360 maquiladoras que emplean a más de 190,000 personas...
English version
Juarez Narco-Violence Marked by Maquiladora Exception
Posted by Bill Conroy - August 22, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Mexican Border Town’s Industrial Parks Have Become a “Green Zone” in the Drug War
The screaming headlines and shocking images that invade our lives daily from south of the U.S. border might lead many of us to believe that Juarez, Mexico, is a dying city bleeding out from a thousand cuts of daily narco-war violence.
The Mexican border city has seen more than 1,900 murders so far this year alone and in excess of 6,200 since January 2008, when the violence escalated with the arrival of the Mexican military to provide “protection” to the residents of the city.
But if Juarez is truly being killed off by the bloodshed spawned by the narco-trafficking trade, then why is that violence not affecting the entire city – where some 10,000 small businesses have closed their doors since 2008 due, in large part, to a wave of burglaries, kidnappings, extortion and murders that has washed over the city during the past two and a half years?
Maquilapolis
MAQUILAPOLIS [city of factories]
A film by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre
A co-production of the Independent Television Service (ITVS).
A project of Creative Capital.
This film was supported by a grant from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.
THE FILM
Carmen works the graveyard shift in one of Tijuana’s maquiladoras, the multinationally-owned factories that came to Mexico for its cheap labor. After making television components all night, Carmen comes home to a shack she built out of recycled garage doors, in a neighborhood with no sewage lines or electricity. She suffers from kidney damage and lead poisoning from her years of exposure to toxic chemicals. She earns six dollars a day. But Carmen is not a victim. She is a dynamic young woman, busy making a life for herself and her children.
TRW Workers need your support for the "final push" on Aug 9
AUGUST 9, 2010, WILL BE THE LAST HEARING FOR THE TRW WORKERS.
YOU CAN AFFECT THE OUTCOME OF THEIR STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE.
YOUR LETTERS AND PHONE CALLS ARE CRUCIAL ON AUGUST 9.
On August 9, a hearing is scheduled that is the last step in the legal process of the TRW workers’ struggle. Without public pressure, the company’s lawyer could succeed at postponing the hearing once again. In the past, he has done so by asserting that the company witness is sick and therefore not available to appear. As evidence, he provides notes from a massage and therapy center.
After the August 9 hearing, the President of the labor board will have one month to review the case and issue a decision. The workers will win the case from a legal standpoint, but the TRW company could take one of the following steps to subvert justice:
Pressure the President of the labor board to rule in favor of the company.
Insist that the CTM Union President Reynaldo Garza mediate with the labor board President, thus allowing her to rule in favor of the company.
The hearing and its aftermath will be a crucial time for the w
orkers legal case. They are prepared to mobilize to protest the company’s persistent impunity.
orkers legal case. They are prepared to mobilize to protest the company’s persistent impunity.
Global Electronics Factories In Spotlight -- Occupational Health & Safety
Aug 04, 2010
Recently, a model of genuine worker participation has surprisingly emerged in China.
By Garrett Brown
Brand-name and contract electronics manufacturers have been rocked this year by a series of ongoing scandals about working conditions in the Asian plants that work day and night to produce the vast majority of the world’s consumer electronics. The worker suicides and cancer cases have called into question the effectiveness of electronics brand's elaborate 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR) programs, their contradictory business model, and the near-zero participation by workers in factory health and safety programs.
In the first five months of 2010 at Foxconn Technology Group's giant 300,000-worker electronics assembly plant in Longhua, China, 16 workers had attempted suicide by jumping off the top of tall dormitory buildings, resulting in 12 deaths and four crippling injuries, and at least 20 other workers were restrained before committing suicide. All workers were between 18 and 24 and were migrants from rural areas of western China. By the end of May 2010, at least 49 young semiconductor workers had contracted cancer -– including 32 brain, leukemia, and lymphoma cancers -– while working at Samsung’s huge electronics plants throughout Korea. Nineteen deaths have occurred, mostly to workers in their 20s. Samsung denied the cancers were work-related, but a Korean magazine reprinted an internal Samsung handbook outlining the use of at least six carcinogens at its plants, including arsine, benzene, and trichloroethylene...
General Motors invertirá 500 millones de dólares en Coahuila
8/4/2010
Casi la mitad se aplicará en la producción de un vehículo de nueva generación, anuncia
El mandatario de Coahuila, Humberto Moreira Valdés, agradece a General Motors la inversión anunciada en el municipio de Ramos Arizpe, con lo que se crearán alrededor de 800 empleos en la industria automotriz
De la redacción
Periódico La Jornada
Miércoles 4 de agosto de 2010, p. 38
La empresa General Motors (GM) anunció que invertirá 500 millones de dólares en su complejo automotriz ubicado en Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, con lo que se crearán alrededor de 800 empleos en la industria automotriz.
Lo anterior se dio a conocer durante una ceremonia efectuada en la ciudad de México, en la que participaron Grace D. Lieblein, presidenta y directora general de General Motors México; el gobernador coahuilense, Humberto Moreira, y Bruno Ferrari, secretario de Economía, éste último en representación del titular del Ejecutivo federal, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa...
Mujeres purépechas en las maquiladoras de Tijuana
Junio 2009
Areli Veloz Contreras
"…Venimos pues porque allá no hay trabajo para mujeres y aquí si pues en las maquiladoras y allá no pueden pues porque allá nada mas puro tejer pa’ las mujeres y pues ganan poquito y pues aquí más o menos, más que allá. Acá mucha gente viene acá a trabajar y ya se quedan aquí, se quedan y pues sí hay nos la llevamos”--Griselda
En los ochenta la mayoría de las investigaciones que se hicieron acerca del tema de las mujeres trabajadoras de maquila en la frontera norte de México decían que las mujeres indígenas no trabajaban en este sector porque no sabían leer, escribir y hablar bien el español, que sólo lo hacían las mujeres de segunda generación, y esto se fue haciendo recurrente tanto en las lecturas sobre el tema, como en las pláticas entre expertos, quedando así invisibilizada la mujer indígena trabajadora de maquila por más de dos décadas. No obstante había un grupo importante de mujeres indígenas que conformaba la mano de obra de las maquilas, y me refiero a las mujeres purépechas de Arantepacua Michoacán que por más de dos décadas han trabajado en este sector y con ello han cambiando sus modos de vida, en este caso sus experiencias de trabajo. Las mujeres en Arantepacua trabajaban en los talleres de carpintería, también hacían bordados y costura de blusas, trabajaban en el campo, en el cuidado de los animales, recolectaban leña o vendían comida. Estos trabajaban suelen llamarse “ayuda” y las mujeres mencionan que lo hacían para poder aportar más dinero al hogar...
Mujeres purépechas en las maquiladoras de Tijuana: Entre la flexibilidad y significación del trabajo
Diciembre, 2010
Areli Veloz Contreras
Resumen
En este artículo se analizan las experiencias de trabajo de las mujeres purépechas en Tijuana. Se pone énfasis en el trabajo de las mujeres en las maquiladoras para entender el significado que actualmente le confieren a éste en un contexto de flexibilidad de las formas de trabajo industrial, lo que conlleva a transformaciones en las percepciones del trabajo mismo. Además, se menciona la ambigüedad de la inclusión a las maquiladoras como parte positiva en la significación del trabajo y la continuidad de las formas de desigualdad social por cuestiones de género, étnicas, de clase y migratorias.Palabras clave: 1. Flexibilidad del trabajo, 2. experiencias vividas, 3. significados del trabajo, 4. Arantepacua, 5. Tijuana.
Abstract
This article discusses the work experiences of Purépecha women in Tijuana. It puts emphasis on the maquiladora women’s work to understand its given meaning in a context of flexible forms of industrial work that leads to changes in perceptions of the work itself. It also mentions the ambiguity of the maquiladora inclusion as a positive part in the meaning of work and the continuity of social inequality originated in gender, ethnic and migratory issues.
Maquiladora Profile and Maquiladora Insert
Jul 2010
The South County Economic Development Council (South County EDC or SCEDC), a non-profit organization was formed in 1989 by a group of South San Diego County business and community leaders, to promote education and encourage economic development in the South San Diego County Region. Our member cities include Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City, San Diego, San Diego County, and the Port of San Diego. Working with our partners in Baja, we promote bi-national economic development with the cities of Mexicali, Tijuana, Tecate, Rosarito, and Ensenada.
SCEDC: Statistics
SCEDC: Maquiladora Profile
SCEDC: Maquiladora Insert
Foxconn India closes factory as 250 workers fall ill
27th July 2010
Alert Print Post commentRetweetFacebook28 still in hospital
By Joe Fay
Posted in Mobile, 27th July 2010 11:41 GMT
Foxconn has been forced to shut down a factory in India after 250 workers were hospitalised after what appears to have been an overzealous bout of pesticide spraying.
According to AFP the firm - famous for building the iPhone as well as a myriad of other gadgets - suspended operations at its Chennai plant yesterday after the workers fell ill.
AFP reports that Foxconn said the workers, who make mobile phone components, had experienced "sensations of giddiness and nausea" which may have been caused by "routine spraying of pesticide".
The spraying itself appears to have taken place last Friday.
A total of 250 workers apparently fell ill - half the factory's complement. Of those, 28 are still in hospital under observation...
Nike Agrees to Compensate Laid-Off Contract Workers in Honduras
27 de Julio, 2010
United Students Against Sweatshops has succeeded in a campaign against the sports apparel giant Nike. On Monday, Nike agreed to compensate 1,800 formerly subcontracted workers in Honduras who were laid off last year without receiving $2.5 million in severance. As part of the deal, Nike will create a $1.5 million "workers relief fund" for the Honduran workers as well as to take other measures to help the workers.
United Students Against Sweatshops has succeeded in a campaign against the sports apparel giant Nike. On Monday, Nike agreed to compensate 1,800 formerly subcontracted workers in Honduras who were laid off last year without receiving $2.5 million in severance. As part of the deal, Nike will create a $1.5 million "workers relief fund" for the Honduran workers as well as to take other measures to help the workers.
Apuntes de la lucha de Han Young
Apuntes de la lucha de Han Young
1. Cronología de la lucha de los trabajadores Han Young
2. Trabajadores de Maquiladora sufren ataque sobre sus derechos para organizarse libremente
3. Four Han Young workers are interviewed for N.A.F.T.A.
Cronología de la lucha de los trabajadores Han Young
2 de junio Los trabajadores se niegan a entrar al área de trabajo y protestan en las afueras de la planta. El 75 % de los empleados ha firmado documentos para formar un sindicato independiente. El ímpetu inmediato de los hechos se lleva acabo a finale
Continúan suicidios de empleados de proveedoras de Apple
21 de Julio, 2010
Xinhua, Afp y Reuters
Periódico La Jornada
Miércoles 21 de julio de 2010, p. 31
Guangzhou. Un trabajador de una filial de la empresa Foxconn Technology, en la provincia meridional china de Guangdong se suicidó en la mañana de este martes lanzándose desde un edificio de dormitorios, informaron las autoridades locales y agregaron que la policía investiga las causas del suceso. El proveedor taiwanés de componentes para firmas como Apple, en el centro industrial del sur de China, ha sido escenario de una serie de suicidios de empleados este año y con este caso suman 12. Foxconn es una unidad de la taiwanesa Hon Hai Precision Industri, que fabrica el iPhone y otros porductos para la marca Apple y también tiene entre sus clientes a Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia y Sony Ericsson. Los suicidios de los trabajadores han generado un intenso escrutinio sobre Foxconn, la cual ha tenido que enfrentarse con una oleada de descontento laboral en China, incluidas denuncias de explotación. Los muertos eran todos trabajadores inmigrantes jóvenes, entre los millones que dejan el interior pobre de China y van a las ciudades de las costas del sur y el este en búsqueda de empleos de alta remuneración. Los trabajadores también reclaman mejores condiciones de trabajo y salarios más elevados, acordes con el crecimiento económico del país.
¿Mejora el sector maquilador?
30 de Junio, 2010
México SA
Caen las ventas al menudeo
Minusvalías reales para trabajadores que ahorran
Carlos Fernández Vega
Desde los micrófonos oficiales se emite insistentemente el mensaje de que la economía mexicana muestra una sólida recuperación”, que las reservas internacionales alcanzan niveles históricos, que el sector exportador avanza con firmeza, que todo camina de maravilla, y que, en fin, los riesgos son mínimos (entre ellos, como si fueran pecata minuta, el no tan consistente comportamiento del vecino del norte, del que México depende en grado sumo, y la crisis europea). Esa es la visión oficial: todo funciona como relojería suiza.
Pues bien, otros no necesariamente coinciden con ese triunfal balance, como en el caso de la Cámara de Diputados, quien presentó su balance económico de coyuntura, del que se apuntan algunos pasajes: entre los recientes indicadores económicos del país, divulgados días atrás, destaca que si bien continúan en ascenso las ventas de los establecimientos comerciales, el empleo y las remuneraciones pagadas se mantienen sin movimiento; asimismo, mejoran las ventas de las tiendas y servicios departamentales, pero el consumo permanece débil, lo que podría deberse, en parte, a las menores remuneraciones pagadas. Pese a incrementos en las ventas al mayoreo, caen las ventas al menudeo, al tiempo que el personal y las remuneraciones disminuyen.
A pesar de la mejoría en el desempeño de las empresas en el sector manufacturero incluidas en el Programa Industria Manufacturera, Maquiladora y de Servicios de Exportación, de las horas trabajadas y de las remuneraciones, el personal ocupado no repunta de manera significativa. En marzo pasado el número de establecimientos en el sector manufacturero incluidos en tal Programa ascendió a 5 mil 290 establecimientos a nivel nacional, el mayor número desde noviembre de 2006, cuando se reportaron 5 mil 288 establecimientos, doce más que las registradas en febrero de 2010 y 55 unidades más que en marzo de 2009, lo que refleja que las condiciones económicas más favorables han incentivado el acceso de empresas a este programa. En lo que se refiere al personal ocupado en dichos establecimientos, éste aumentó 6.18 por ciento en marzo respecto al mismo mes de 2009; sin embargo, a pesar de haber tenido un comportamiento favorable, el número de personal ocupado es 10.28 por ciento inferior a la cifra más alta conseguida en marzo de 2008, que fue de un millón 910 mil 190 personas...
Maquiladoras en el Mundo
Maquiladoras Worldwide
Good Electronics--International Network on Human Rights and Sustainability in ElectronicsIn the electronics industry there is still a lot to improve...On human rights and sustainable production. Poor working conditions and environmental damage can be found in the production of computers, mobile phones and other electronic products. The complicated product chain, high percentage of outsourcing, rapid product developments, weak unionized structures and lack of (inter)national law implementation contribute to this situation. The industry took the initiative to develop a sector code and working group for implementation. However stakeholders identify weaknesses in the code and its' implementation. Structural involvement of workers and local stakeholders in the code's development, implementation and independent verification has been lacking.
[Video] Trabajadores de Foxconn en Guadalajara, Junio 10, 2010
Cereal y trabajadores de Foxconn en Guadalajara se solidarizan con los trabajadores de Foxconn en China. El equipo de trabajo en la ciudad de Guadalajara, el Centro de Reflexión y Acción laboral (CEREAL Gdl) comenzó a documentar casos provenientes de la industria electrónica en 1997 y a partir de entonces encontró situaciones de acoso sexual, trato indigno, inestabilidad laboral, exposición a tóxicos, represión a la libertad sindical, sobrecargas de trabajo, accidentes colectivos y enfermedades laborales no atendidas. Foxconn anuncia otra subida salarial tras la ola de suicidios (Pekín - 07/06/2010)
La fabricante del iPad de Apple aumentará un 66% los sueldos en sus plantas del sur de China desde octubre. La firma taiwanesa Foxconn, fabricante del iPad de Apple y envuelta en una ola de suicidios de sus empleados, anunció una subida del sueldo del 66% a los trabajadores de sus líneas de ensamblaje, pocos días después de que se anunciara otro aumento salarial similar, informó hoy la agencia oficial Xinhua. El aumento dejará el sueldo de esos trabajadores en 2.000 yuanes (unos 245 euros) en las plantas de Shenzhen (sur de China), pero no será efectivo hasta el 1 de octubre, destacó la agencia oficial. Se trata del segundo anuncio de aumento de sueldos ofrecido por Foxconn en menos de una semana, después de que el pasado día 2 se anunciara una subida del 30% en el salario de los trabajadores de Shenzhen (donde trabajan 400.000 de los 800.000 empleados chinos de la compañía) a partir de este mes. Las subidas llegan después de que 10 empleados de la empresa en esta zona se hayan suicidado y otros tres hayan resultado heridos al intentar quitarse la vida en lo que va de año.
elpepueco/20100607elpepueco_6/Tes
Las huelgas sacuden la fábrica del mundo (Pekín 11/06/2010)
Una oleada de paros en demanda de mejores salarios y condiciones laborales agita el este de China
¿Es el fin de una época dorada? Una ola de huelgas para pedir subidas salariales y mejores condiciones de trabajo se ha extendido en los últimos días por empresas extranjeras en diferentes provincias de China, en un movimiento que ha llevado a analistas e inversores a interrogarse sobre la continuidad del país asiático como fábrica del mundo. Las movilizaciones, que han afectado a compañías como la automovilística japonesa Honda, se han encadenado debido a lo que parece un efecto dominó tras las subidas de sueldos llevadas a cabo en otras empresas en las que se han registrado paros reivindicativos. Las protestas se han multiplicado después de que la taiwanesa Foxcom incrementara un 67% el salario de sus varios cientos de miles de trabajadores en China y una de las filiales de Honda lo subiera un 24% para poner fin a una huelga. Foxcom, que fabrica los teléfonos iPhone y las tabletas iPad de Apple, reaccionó de esta forma al escándalo surgido tras el suicido de 11 de sus empleados ?10 de ellos, en la ciudad sureña de Shenzhen?, según activistas laborales por las duras condiciones de vida en sus factorías.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/huelgas/sacuden/fabrica/mundo/
elpepuint/20100611elpepuint_13/Tes
Create humane labor standards at Foxconn and end “stealth manufacturing” in Information Technology! (June 8, 2010)
The tragic series of suicides among young workers of the “Foxconn City” factory compound in Shenzhen, China, has alarmed the world. Until now, only few people knew that this is the largest electronics factory in the world, employing more than 300,000 workers. The factory is run by a large multinational company from Taiwan, Foxconn (a subsidiary of Hon Hai group), which is one of the largest electronics manufacturing companies in the world. It produces for the most famous brand names in the global IT industry such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Nokia or Sony. Since contract manufacturers like Foxconn and their global customers try to keep their manufacturing operations hidden, this system has correctly been labelled “stealth manufacturing”.
http://sacom.hk/archives/649
Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM)
SACOM is a new nonprofit organization founded in Hong Kong in June 2005. SACOM originated from a students’ movement devoted to improving the labor conditions of cleaning workers and security guards under the outsourcing policy. The movement attained relative success and created an opportunity for students to engage in local and global labor issues. SACOM aims at bringing concerned students, scholars, labor activists, and consumers together to monitor corporate behavior and to advocate for workers’ rights. We believe that the most effective means of monitoring is to collaborate closely with workers at the workplace level. We team up with labor NGOs to provide in-factory training to workers in South China. Through democratic elections, we support worker-based committees that can represent the voices of the majority of workers.
http://sacom.hk/
Foxconn: prolonged protests and clear proposals (08 June 2010)
Trade unions, individual consumers, labour groups, campaign organisations, academics etc. from all over the world have joined in the protest to condemn the suicidal regime at Foxconn's Chinese production sites and the still inadequate responses of the global electronics industry so far. Over the recent months, the Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn has witnessed a series of suicides at it's Longhua plant near Shenzhen in mainland China. June 7, a Foxconn-employed engineer collapsed and died after having worked for 34 hours non-stop. The company has been addressed and criticised for its harsh working regime, heavy work load, overtime, low wages, and the lack of democratically elected workers representatives. The Hong Kong based labour rights group SACOM has been ardently working to raise international awareness. SACOM's four main demands in a nutshell: Review of the management methods at Foxconn to ease the pressure on workers; Facilitate the formation of a trade union through a democratic election; Reform the purchasing model to end the “race to the bottom” game; and Provide a decent wage so that workers need not endanger themselves by working so much overtime. On June 8th, while Apple launches its 4th generation iPhone, labour activists worldwide are commemorating the workers who committed suicide at the Foxconn factory in Shenzen. Protest are staged at the Hon Hai / Foxconn headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, at the occasion of the company´s annual general meeting.
Under pressure, Foxconn has announced a salary increase of 70%. This increase is welcomed by labour activists, but the announcement is still surrounded by many questions. Reportedly, the increase will be effective from October 1st, 2010. It is not clear if the announced increase will cover all 300.000 workers at the Longhua plant. Foxconn mentioned that workers will have to pass a three-month review period before they are qualified for the October raise. The wage increase is not the result of negotiations between the Foxconn manmagement and representatives of the Longhua workers, but was unilaterally announced by the company. The most painful element of this announced wage increase if of course that it came about only after the tragic deaths of 11 workers. "While overtime work was always voluntary, this wage increase will reduce overtime work as a personal necessity," the Foxconn statement reportedly said.This is a telling remark, as it implicitly means that in the current situation wages are indeed too low to allow for a decent living. Moreover, as SACOM also points out, workers in China do not enjoy effective protection from getting fired if they'd refuse overtime.
http://goodelectronics.org/news-en/foxconn-prolonged-protests-coupled-to-ambitious-solutions
Dying young: the Foxconn suicides and China’s booming economy (27 May 2010)
A newly-installed safety net between dormitory buildings to prevent employees from attempting suicide by jumping off the rooftop - can it really help save lives? Since the beginning of 2010, a startling ten Foxconn employees in Shenzhen tried to end their lives. Eight died, while two survived their injuries. All were between 18 and 25 years old—in the prime of their youth—and their loss should awaken wider society to reflect upon the costs of a development model that sacrifices dignity for economic growth. Chinese migrants as low-paid workers and secondary citizens. More than 10 percent of the 1.4 billion people in China, that is, hundreds of millions of “peasants” from the countryside, are on the move. These internal migrants are hailed as China’s new working class. They are preferred as a low cost source of labor and considered better fit for training and adaption to the competitive pressures of the market. In contrast to older state-owned-enterprise workers who seem hopelessly stuck in their socialist mentality and welfare dependency, new generations of peasants-turned-workers are said to be building China’s modernization.
http://goodelectronics.org/news-en/dying-young-the-foxconn-suicides-and-china2019s-booming-economy/
Maquiladoras Electrónicas en Corea y el cáncer
Petition Calling on Samsung to Accept Responsibility for Occupational Deaths and to Provide Safe and Decent Working Conditions (Feb 28, 2010)
The families and friends of electronics manufacturing workers at Samsung in Korea have discovered a cancer cluster among young workers exposed to toxic chemicals. The pattern of cancer deaths bears a striking resemblance to the pattern of cancer deaths among IBM “chip” workers in the US* and to other electronics cancer clusters around the world. March 6th is the third anniversary of the death of Yu-mi Hwang, a Samsung semiconductor factory worker, who died from leukemia at age 22. Her death – and similar coworker deaths - has motivated people to demand that Samsung. Go to the petition:
Mortality among US employees of a large computer manufacturing company: 1969–2001
Previous studies suggested increased cancer incidence and mortality in workers exposed to solvents and other chemicals in computer manufacturing jobs. Most previous studies were of small cohorts and findings were inconsistent. A lawsuit involving a large U.S. company produced a data file for analysis. This study sought to elucidate patterns of mortality in workers who were engaged manufacturing computers and related electronic components in the largest database available to date.
http://www.ehjournal.net/content/5/1/30
LabourStart: Where trade unionists start their day on the net. LabourStart is an online news service maintained by a global network of volunteers which aims to serve the international trade union movement by collecting and disseminating information -- and by assisting unions in campaigning and other ways. Its features include daily labour news links in more than 20 languages and a news syndication service used by more than over 700 trade union websites. News is collected from mainstream, trade union, and alternative news sources by a network of over 500 volunteer correspondents based on every continent. LabourStart has been involved in online campaigning for several years but moved up a gear with the launch in July 2002 of the ActNOW campaigning system. Tens of thousands of trade unionists have participated in its various online campaigns and more than 50,000 are currently subscribed to its mailing list. They receive weekly mailings, usually on Thursdays.
http://www.labourstart.org/
LabourStart: Where trade unionists start their day on the net. LabourStart is an online news service maintained by a global network of volunteers which aims to serve the international trade union movement by collecting and disseminating information -- and by assisting unions in campaigning and other ways. Its features include daily labour news links in more than 20 languages and a news syndication service used by more than over 700 trade union websites. News is collected from mainstream, trade union, and alternative news sources by a network of over 500 volunteer correspondents based on every continent. LabourStart has been involved in online campaigning for several years but moved up a gear with the launch in July 2002 of the ActNOW campaigning system. Tens of thousands of trade unionists have participated in its various online campaigns and more than 50,000 are currently subscribed to its mailing list. They receive weekly mailings, usually on Thursdays.
http://www.labourstart.org/
Maquiladoras Tijuana
Generan 67% empleos micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas en BC
Diario de San Diego, May 19 2010--El secretario de Desarrollo Económico de Baja California, Alejandro Mungaray Lagarda, aseguró que el 67 por ciento de los empleos que se generan en el estado tienen como fuente las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas. En conferencia, el funcionario aseguró que la tasa de desempleo para Baja California bajó de 6.7 a 5.9 por ciento, lo que se traduce como la tasa más baja en toda la frontera norte del país. Dijo que se trata de cifras importantes, porque además de recuperar los empleos perdidos en 2009, también se atendió a una gran cantidad de personas migrantes desde el interior del país hacia esta zona.
Concentra Tijuana 60% de residuos peligrosos por maquiladoras
Diario de San Diego, May 19 2010--Esta frontera concentra el 60 de 80 por ciento de los residuos peligrosos que se generan en las ciudades fronterizas del país y que son desechados por las maquiladoras locales. El jefe de la Unidad de Gestión de la Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Semarnat) en Baja California, Juan Manuel Guzmán García, indicó que a diferencia de otras delegaciones, aquí la actividad se centra en las maquiladoras. Destacó que la delegación de la Semarnat en esta entidad lleva a cabo cerca de 40 trámites de diversa naturaleza al año, de los que alrededor de 70 por ciento se centra en movimientos de residuos peligrosos por parte de esa industria.
Cierre de planta Toyota cancelaría en California 50 mil plazas
Diario de San Diego, Notimex San Diego, Mar 29 2010. El cierre esta semana de la mayor planta de la automotriz japonesa Toyota en California podría dejar sin empleo hasta a 50 mil personas, advirtió hoy un dirigente sindical. Alex Castillo, dirigente del sindicato de trabajadores automotrices, dijo a Notimex que el cierre de la planta Nummi de la Toyota en Freemont el próximo miércoles dejará directamente sin empleo a unas seis mil 500 personas, pero también a otros miles de trabajadores de fábricas que por 20 años han abastecido a esa fábrica. “Los cálculos van de los 30 mil a los 50 mil empleos en California directamente relacionados con el cierre de la Nummi”, dijo el dirigente del local 2244 del sindicato automotriz.
http://www.diariosandiego.com/bin/articulos.cgi?ID=85039&q=1&s=1
Llegan a Tijuana más empresas de las que salen
En el último año, en Tijuana, Baja California, la recesión económica en casas matrices, más que la inseguridad, motivó la salida de 23 empresas, pero llegaron 42 nuevas y otras 20 invirtieron en su expansión. La violencia e inseguridad preocupaban hace cinco o siete años, "ahora, en los planes de inversión, juega más la ubicación, la logística, los incentivos fiscales, la experiencia en materia de maquiladoras y los 52 parques industriales en Tijuana", dijo el presidente de Desarrollo Económico e Industrial de Tijuana, Gerardo Brizuela Altamirano. El representante expuso el comportamiento en esa ciudad fronteriza al anunciar el Encuentro Tijuana Innovadora 2010, que se realizará del 7 al 21 de octubre, con la asistencia de los premios Nobel de la Paz, Al Gore; de Química, Mario Molina; y de Economía, Robert Aumann. En el encuentro también se programa la presencia del director general de la OCDE, José Angel Gurría, dijo en una conferencia de prensa organizada por la Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Transformación (Canacintra). Brizuela adelantó también que en los próximos 45 días se concretarán inversiones por 17 mil millones de dólares en materia automotriz, lo que generará hasta 900 empleos, aunque se reservó el nombre de la industria automotriz.
http://diariosandiego.com/bin/articulos.cgi?ID=84381&q=1&s=34
Sony sold Tijuana to Foxconn (Sep 2, 2009)
Plunging TV prices challenge makers; competition prompts Sony's Baja decision. Sony's decision this week to sell its flat panel television factory in Tijuana to a Taiwan-based manufacturing conglomerate shows how TV makers are looking for new ways to compete as prices continue to plunge. “I think from Sony's perspective, it has been a challenge in the U.S. market because it's so competitive,” said Paul Semenza, a senior vice president with Display Research, which follows the industry. “In certain regions like Japan, consumers really want a certain high level of quality and are willing to pay for it. In the U.S., it's a much more price-sensitive market.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/sep/02/plunging-tv-prices-challenge-makers/
Sony Outsources Border Plant
Battered by multi-billion dollar losses, Sony Corp. has decided to outsource production at a large Tijuana factory. The Japan-based consumer electronics giant announced this week it will sell a 90 percent interest in a factory that manufactures LCD television screens to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.of Taiwan. Production at the plant will be managed by Hon Hai’s Foxconn division. The deal was given a political stamp of approval by Baja California Governor Jose Osuna Millan and other high state officials. In a Tijuana meeting earlier this week, Governor Osuna thanked Sony President Takahiro Kawamura for investing in the northern Mexican state. The National Action Party governor told Kawamura that Baja California is quite open to future dealings with Sony. After returning the appreciations, Kawamura said that Baja California has a proven track record in doing business. No details of the Sony-Foxconn agreement were immediately disclosed, but initial reports suggested that the 3,300 workers at the Tijuana factory would still have jobs. Foxconn, however, is among many electronics manufacturers that routinely outsource jobs to temporary employment agencies which don’t pay the full range of benefits. The Taiwan-based industry leader makes computers and consumer electronics for companies including Sony, Apple, Cisco, HP, Nintendo, Motorola, and Nokia.
http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/ (See "Tijuana News")
Comment by Citygroup about Sony
"Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) will buy the stake in a liquid-crystal-display TV unit based in Tijuana, Mexico, and the unit’s manufacturing assets...The sale signals that Sony — which is cutting 16,000 jobs and has shut eight factories to revive its profitability as it heads into its first consecutive annual losses since its listing in 1958 — may eventually stop making TVs, said Kota Ezawa, an analyst at Citigroup Inc in Tokyo."
See also http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2009/09/02/2003452602
Sony Sells 90% Of Tijuana LCD TV Plant, Forms Strategic Alliance with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry (Sep 2009)
Sony Insider--Sony has announced that it has agreed to form a strategic alliance with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. (also known as Foxconn) for the production of LCD TVs in the Americas. Based on this agreement, Sony will sell to Hon Hai Group 90% of its shares in Sony Baja California and certain manufacturing assets related to Sony Baja California’s Tijuana site in Mexico, which mainly manufactures LCD TVs for the Americas region. Following the sale, Hon Hai Group will hold 90% ownership of Sony Baja California and the Sony Group will retain a 10% share. The Tijuana site will remain a key manufacturing facility of Sony LCD TVs for the Americas region. Hon Hai Group will assume employment of employees at the Tijuana site. Within its LCD TV business, Sony is concentrating internal resources towards areas that contribute to product differentiation, such as R&D, engineering and design, while also establishing a structure that enables the company to bring attractive products to market at the earliest possible opportunity. At the same time, by proactively leveraging external manufacturing resources Sony will also seek to reduce fixed costs, drive other cost reductions, improve profitability and achieve business expansion.
http://www.sonyinsider.com/2009/09/01/sony-sells-90-of-tijuana-lcd-tv-plant-forms-strategic-alliance-with-taiwans-hon-hai-precision-industry/
Diario de San Diego, Notimex San Diego, Mar 29 2010. El cierre esta semana de la mayor planta de la automotriz japonesa Toyota en California podría dejar sin empleo hasta a 50 mil personas, advirtió hoy un dirigente sindical. Alex Castillo, dirigente del sindicato de trabajadores automotrices, dijo a Notimex que el cierre de la planta Nummi de la Toyota en Freemont el próximo miércoles dejará directamente sin empleo a unas seis mil 500 personas, pero también a otros miles de trabajadores de fábricas que por 20 años han abastecido a esa fábrica. “Los cálculos van de los 30 mil a los 50 mil empleos en California directamente relacionados con el cierre de la Nummi”, dijo el dirigente del local 2244 del sindicato automotriz.
http://www.diariosandiego.com/bin/articulos.cgi?ID=85039&q=1&s=1
Llegan a Tijuana más empresas de las que salen
En el último año, en Tijuana, Baja California, la recesión económica en casas matrices, más que la inseguridad, motivó la salida de 23 empresas, pero llegaron 42 nuevas y otras 20 invirtieron en su expansión. La violencia e inseguridad preocupaban hace cinco o siete años, "ahora, en los planes de inversión, juega más la ubicación, la logística, los incentivos fiscales, la experiencia en materia de maquiladoras y los 52 parques industriales en Tijuana", dijo el presidente de Desarrollo Económico e Industrial de Tijuana, Gerardo Brizuela Altamirano. El representante expuso el comportamiento en esa ciudad fronteriza al anunciar el Encuentro Tijuana Innovadora 2010, que se realizará del 7 al 21 de octubre, con la asistencia de los premios Nobel de la Paz, Al Gore; de Química, Mario Molina; y de Economía, Robert Aumann. En el encuentro también se programa la presencia del director general de la OCDE, José Angel Gurría, dijo en una conferencia de prensa organizada por la Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Transformación (Canacintra). Brizuela adelantó también que en los próximos 45 días se concretarán inversiones por 17 mil millones de dólares en materia automotriz, lo que generará hasta 900 empleos, aunque se reservó el nombre de la industria automotriz.
http://diariosandiego.com/bin/articulos.cgi?ID=84381&q=1&s=34
Sony sold Tijuana to Foxconn (Sep 2, 2009)
Plunging TV prices challenge makers; competition prompts Sony's Baja decision. Sony's decision this week to sell its flat panel television factory in Tijuana to a Taiwan-based manufacturing conglomerate shows how TV makers are looking for new ways to compete as prices continue to plunge. “I think from Sony's perspective, it has been a challenge in the U.S. market because it's so competitive,” said Paul Semenza, a senior vice president with Display Research, which follows the industry. “In certain regions like Japan, consumers really want a certain high level of quality and are willing to pay for it. In the U.S., it's a much more price-sensitive market.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/sep/02/plunging-tv-prices-challenge-makers/
Sony Outsources Border Plant
Battered by multi-billion dollar losses, Sony Corp. has decided to outsource production at a large Tijuana factory. The Japan-based consumer electronics giant announced this week it will sell a 90 percent interest in a factory that manufactures LCD television screens to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.of Taiwan. Production at the plant will be managed by Hon Hai’s Foxconn division. The deal was given a political stamp of approval by Baja California Governor Jose Osuna Millan and other high state officials. In a Tijuana meeting earlier this week, Governor Osuna thanked Sony President Takahiro Kawamura for investing in the northern Mexican state. The National Action Party governor told Kawamura that Baja California is quite open to future dealings with Sony. After returning the appreciations, Kawamura said that Baja California has a proven track record in doing business. No details of the Sony-Foxconn agreement were immediately disclosed, but initial reports suggested that the 3,300 workers at the Tijuana factory would still have jobs. Foxconn, however, is among many electronics manufacturers that routinely outsource jobs to temporary employment agencies which don’t pay the full range of benefits. The Taiwan-based industry leader makes computers and consumer electronics for companies including Sony, Apple, Cisco, HP, Nintendo, Motorola, and Nokia.
http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/ (See "Tijuana News")
Comment by Citygroup about Sony
"Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) will buy the stake in a liquid-crystal-display TV unit based in Tijuana, Mexico, and the unit’s manufacturing assets...The sale signals that Sony — which is cutting 16,000 jobs and has shut eight factories to revive its profitability as it heads into its first consecutive annual losses since its listing in 1958 — may eventually stop making TVs, said Kota Ezawa, an analyst at Citigroup Inc in Tokyo."
See also http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2009/09/02/2003452602
Sony Sells 90% Of Tijuana LCD TV Plant, Forms Strategic Alliance with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry (Sep 2009)
Sony Insider--Sony has announced that it has agreed to form a strategic alliance with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. (also known as Foxconn) for the production of LCD TVs in the Americas. Based on this agreement, Sony will sell to Hon Hai Group 90% of its shares in Sony Baja California and certain manufacturing assets related to Sony Baja California’s Tijuana site in Mexico, which mainly manufactures LCD TVs for the Americas region. Following the sale, Hon Hai Group will hold 90% ownership of Sony Baja California and the Sony Group will retain a 10% share. The Tijuana site will remain a key manufacturing facility of Sony LCD TVs for the Americas region. Hon Hai Group will assume employment of employees at the Tijuana site. Within its LCD TV business, Sony is concentrating internal resources towards areas that contribute to product differentiation, such as R&D, engineering and design, while also establishing a structure that enables the company to bring attractive products to market at the earliest possible opportunity. At the same time, by proactively leveraging external manufacturing resources Sony will also seek to reduce fixed costs, drive other cost reductions, improve profitability and achieve business expansion.
http://www.sonyinsider.com/2009/09/01/sony-sells-90-of-tijuana-lcd-tv-plant-forms-strategic-alliance-with-taiwans-hon-hai-precision-industry/
Maquiladoras en México
Cáncer y Maquiladoras
Estudio acerca de la enfermedad en las poblaciones mexicanas en la frontera con Estados Unidos, donde se concentra alrededor del 75% de las maquiladoras en México
"Enfermedades no comunicables son también una preocupación creciente en la poblaciones de la frontera. La mortalidad debida al cáncer en todas sus modalidades fue de 62.9 por 100,000 habitantes en la zona fronteriza mexicana en 1990, comparada con 50.8 en todo el país; la mortalidad producida por cáncer de tráquea, bronquitis y pulmones fue 70% más alta en los municipios fronterizos.”
1994 Health Conditions in the Americas. Vols. 1 and 2. Scentific publication, No. 549. Washington, D.C.: PAHO
Cancer and Maquiladoras
Study about diseases on the Mexican population at the US/Mexico border area, where about 75% of all Mexican maquiladoras are located.
"Noncommunicable diseases are also a growing concern among border populations. Mortality from all cancers combined was 62.9 per 100000 population in the Mexican border zone in 1990, compared with 50.8 in the country as a whole; mortality due to cancers of the trachea, bronchi, and lung was 70 percent higher in the border municipalities."
1994 Health Conditions in the Americas. Vols. 1 and 2. Scentific publication, No. 549. Washington, D.C.: PAHO
Maquiladora huye sin pagar a 130 obreros, 3 de marzo de 2010
La Jornada. Nuevo Laredo, Tamps., 2 de marzo. Propietarios extranjeros de la maquiladora Lobo aprovecharon el fin de semana anterior para desaparecer con todo y maquinaria, sin pagar sueldos y ahorros a 130 obreros.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/03/03/index.php?section=estados&article=029n3est
Gender in the Workplace
Maquila Social Forum
On June 5-7, the Maquila Social Forum was held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, a workers’ organization that has fought in defense of labor rights for two decades. There was reason for celebration—the coalition has not only managed to survive a downturn marked by economic crisis, unemployment, offenses against labor rights in Mexico, and militarization, it has also overcome internal challenges to face the new developments. New topics for reflection were opened at the forum. An example of this is the text presented here. For the first time in this rank and file workers’ organization, the subject of sexuality was discussed. The author, a young organizer with the Center of Hope for Peace and Justice in El Paso, presented a version of the following text to the participants, who revisited its themes in their conclusions and resolutions. Read also the Declaration of the Maquila Social Forum.
Despide Foxconn maquiladora de Juárez a 300 obreros a raíz de protesta
Ciudad Juárez, Chih., 25 de febrero, 2010. La maquiladora de capital taiwanés Foxconn comenzó a despedir a alrededor de 300 empleados que la semana pasada participaron en una protesta en la cual quemaron el comedor de la empresa y apedrearon los dormitorios de los gerentes. Jesús Sánchez, representante legal de Foxconn, dijo que a raíz de los problemas con los trabajadores, “un cliente” decidió cancelar un contrato de proveeduría, por lo que fue necesario recortar a los trabajadores del área que producía dicha mercancía.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/02/26/index.php?section=estados&article=033n1est
Despide Foxconn a los obreros que protestaron por abusos laborales
Seis días después de haber protestado contra supuestos abusos laborales, la noche de este miércoles la empresa Foxconn despidió a decenas y quizá cientos de empleados. Obreros de la maquiladora localizada a las afueras de la ciudad, próxima a la garita de cruce internacional Santa Teresa, denunciaron ante los medios de comunicación que "por lo menos cien trabajadores fuimos sacados de las líneas de producción y sacados para afuera de la planta". Indicaron que guardias de la empresa los despojaron de la bata y el gafete para enseguida conducirlos al exterior de la empresa de origen taiwanes. donde un buen número de patrullas policiacas custodiaban las instalaciones. No se supo de la presencia de autoridades laborales durante el despido que, otra versión indica que llagaría las 300 gentes del tercer turno. En días pasados, la empresa anunció que no tomaría represalias contra los empleados que hubieran participado en las protestas, hechos que fueron minimizados, tanto en daños como en participantes, número que los representantes legales de la empresa contaban apenas en una veintena. Foxconn por su parte, en voz de su representante legal, Jesús Sánchez, ha dado a conocer que esa mediada se ha tomado debido a la cancelación de al menos un contrato; esto como consecuencia directa del conflicto del pasado viernes, asegura la empresa. Fue al anterior viernes 19 cuando un grupo de trabajadores retenidos contra su voluntad para que trabajaran tiempo extra, se revelaron e incendiaron la cafetería de la compañía a la vez que apedreaban casetas de seguridad y dormitorios de personal extranjero.
http://www.arrobajuarez.com/busca.php?palabra=foxconn
Foxconn workers burn down a factory
No one likes to be lied to by an employer, though few ever take that dislike as far as Foxconn workers in Mexico. Apparently a group of Foxconn employees set fire to their factory after management attempted to coerce workers into overtime labor without compensation. Foxconn’s Juarez, Mexico facility uses transportation trucks to ferry workers to and from the plant every day. Yesterday, supervisors at the plant told workers that the trucks had been delayed at a military checkpoint and instructed the employees to continue working until the trucks arrived. As it turns out, the trucks were sitting in the parking lot, presumably parked-in on purpose. It wasn’t the first time the factory had pulled a stunt like this, so the workers decided to get even. They torched the gymnasium, which is where the plant keeps all of its finished cell phones and computers. Don’t be surprised if there’s suddenly a bit of an iPhone shortage in certain parts of the country.
http://www.gadgetteaser.com/2010/02/20/foxconn-workers-burn-down-a-factory/
Foxconn Blasts Worker, Media after Mexico Factory Fire
“Misleading and twisted.” That’s what Taiwanese electronics giant Hon Hai Precision is saying about coverage of a conflict with some workers at a factory in Mexico owned by its Foxconn Technology Group. Hon Hai spokesman Edmund C.A. Ding today released a statement saying that buses that usually transport workers back from the Foxconn Juarez Santa Teresa campus at the end of the night shift didn’t show up on Feb. 19. The statement said 30 people in the waiting area covered their faces with bandanas and started “spreading malicious rumors of how Foxconn would not give overtime pay for late bus to agitate the crowd.” The workers tried to prevent the bus from reaching the campus, the statement continues, and employees started a fire in a community center. The company said the incident had been planned in advance by a former employee with a “personal score to settle.” Foxconn says it will pursue legal action against the former employee only, and not any other workers involved.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2010/02/foxconn_
blasts.html
Women and the Maquiladoras in Mexico
Following the termination of the Bracero program by the US government, a plan known as the Border Industrialization Program was introduced in 1965 by the Mexico government aimed at creating employment opportunities in the northern Mexican border for those seasonal agricultural workers who were previously allowed to work in the United States but now lost their job due to the cancellation of the Bracero program. At the same year, the maquiladora industry was born in Mexico. According to Kathryn Kopinak, author of the book Desert Capitalism, the meaning of the word maquiladora or maquila in short, have evolved overtime due to changing government policies that ultimately shaped the characteristics of the maquiladora industry (9). However, maquiladoras at their cores “are US subsidiaries or contract affiliates under foreign ownership; are dedicated to the assembly of components, the processing of primary materials, or both, producing either intermediate or final products; import most or all primary materials and components from the united states, and re-export the end products of the manufacturing process to the United States; are labor-intensive” (Prieto, Introduction xxiii).
http://www.madarong.com/Writing/16.Women%20and%20the%20Maquiladoras%20in%20Mexico
Maquiladoras: las reglas del juego
Alejandro Nadal, La Jornada, Nov 14, 2007. A veces una investigación académica tiene sabor a novela de misterio. Ése es el caso de un estudio reciente sobre la industria maquiladora en México y la estrategia global de las industrias trasnacionales en la rama electrónica. La sólida investigación de Kevin Gallagher y Lyuba Zarsky, investigadores de la Universidad de Boston y del Instituto Monterrey, respectivamente, explica por qué ha fracasado el modelo para transitar de las maquiladoras ensambladoras a un complejo industrial con alto valor agregado nacional en sus exportaciones.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/11/14/index.php?section=opinion&article=031a1eco
Trabajadores de la maquila protestan ante la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT), Feb 26, 2010
The Telephone Workers’ Union of Mexico, The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM,) the Democratic Lawyers Association (ANAD), and the labor organizations, unions, and other allied organizations who are CJM members on February 22nd presented a complaint to the Freedom of Association Committee of the International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting in Mexico City. (Please see the link OIT ). The complaint focuses on violations of Mexican maquiladora workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. CJM, maquiladora workers, and CJM member organizations compiled the evidence in the complaint from cases in the maquiladora industry located on the northern border of Mexico. The cases date from 1994, the year the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.
http://sdmaquila.blogspot.com/2010/03/trabajadoresas-de-la-maquila-protestan.html
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/02/26/index.php?section=estados&article=033n1est
Despide Foxconn a los obreros que protestaron por abusos laborales
Seis días después de haber protestado contra supuestos abusos laborales, la noche de este miércoles la empresa Foxconn despidió a decenas y quizá cientos de empleados. Obreros de la maquiladora localizada a las afueras de la ciudad, próxima a la garita de cruce internacional Santa Teresa, denunciaron ante los medios de comunicación que "por lo menos cien trabajadores fuimos sacados de las líneas de producción y sacados para afuera de la planta". Indicaron que guardias de la empresa los despojaron de la bata y el gafete para enseguida conducirlos al exterior de la empresa de origen taiwanes. donde un buen número de patrullas policiacas custodiaban las instalaciones. No se supo de la presencia de autoridades laborales durante el despido que, otra versión indica que llagaría las 300 gentes del tercer turno. En días pasados, la empresa anunció que no tomaría represalias contra los empleados que hubieran participado en las protestas, hechos que fueron minimizados, tanto en daños como en participantes, número que los representantes legales de la empresa contaban apenas en una veintena. Foxconn por su parte, en voz de su representante legal, Jesús Sánchez, ha dado a conocer que esa mediada se ha tomado debido a la cancelación de al menos un contrato; esto como consecuencia directa del conflicto del pasado viernes, asegura la empresa. Fue al anterior viernes 19 cuando un grupo de trabajadores retenidos contra su voluntad para que trabajaran tiempo extra, se revelaron e incendiaron la cafetería de la compañía a la vez que apedreaban casetas de seguridad y dormitorios de personal extranjero.
http://www.arrobajuarez.com/busca.php?palabra=foxconn
Foxconn workers burn down a factory
No one likes to be lied to by an employer, though few ever take that dislike as far as Foxconn workers in Mexico. Apparently a group of Foxconn employees set fire to their factory after management attempted to coerce workers into overtime labor without compensation. Foxconn’s Juarez, Mexico facility uses transportation trucks to ferry workers to and from the plant every day. Yesterday, supervisors at the plant told workers that the trucks had been delayed at a military checkpoint and instructed the employees to continue working until the trucks arrived. As it turns out, the trucks were sitting in the parking lot, presumably parked-in on purpose. It wasn’t the first time the factory had pulled a stunt like this, so the workers decided to get even. They torched the gymnasium, which is where the plant keeps all of its finished cell phones and computers. Don’t be surprised if there’s suddenly a bit of an iPhone shortage in certain parts of the country.
http://www.gadgetteaser.com/2010/02/20/foxconn-workers-burn-down-a-factory/
Foxconn Blasts Worker, Media after Mexico Factory Fire
“Misleading and twisted.” That’s what Taiwanese electronics giant Hon Hai Precision is saying about coverage of a conflict with some workers at a factory in Mexico owned by its Foxconn Technology Group. Hon Hai spokesman Edmund C.A. Ding today released a statement saying that buses that usually transport workers back from the Foxconn Juarez Santa Teresa campus at the end of the night shift didn’t show up on Feb. 19. The statement said 30 people in the waiting area covered their faces with bandanas and started “spreading malicious rumors of how Foxconn would not give overtime pay for late bus to agitate the crowd.” The workers tried to prevent the bus from reaching the campus, the statement continues, and employees started a fire in a community center. The company said the incident had been planned in advance by a former employee with a “personal score to settle.” Foxconn says it will pursue legal action against the former employee only, and not any other workers involved.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2010/02/foxconn_
blasts.html
Women and the Maquiladoras in Mexico
Following the termination of the Bracero program by the US government, a plan known as the Border Industrialization Program was introduced in 1965 by the Mexico government aimed at creating employment opportunities in the northern Mexican border for those seasonal agricultural workers who were previously allowed to work in the United States but now lost their job due to the cancellation of the Bracero program. At the same year, the maquiladora industry was born in Mexico. According to Kathryn Kopinak, author of the book Desert Capitalism, the meaning of the word maquiladora or maquila in short, have evolved overtime due to changing government policies that ultimately shaped the characteristics of the maquiladora industry (9). However, maquiladoras at their cores “are US subsidiaries or contract affiliates under foreign ownership; are dedicated to the assembly of components, the processing of primary materials, or both, producing either intermediate or final products; import most or all primary materials and components from the united states, and re-export the end products of the manufacturing process to the United States; are labor-intensive” (Prieto, Introduction xxiii).
http://www.madarong.com/Writing/16.Women%20and%20the%20Maquiladoras%20in%20Mexico
Maquiladoras: las reglas del juego
Alejandro Nadal, La Jornada, Nov 14, 2007. A veces una investigación académica tiene sabor a novela de misterio. Ése es el caso de un estudio reciente sobre la industria maquiladora en México y la estrategia global de las industrias trasnacionales en la rama electrónica. La sólida investigación de Kevin Gallagher y Lyuba Zarsky, investigadores de la Universidad de Boston y del Instituto Monterrey, respectivamente, explica por qué ha fracasado el modelo para transitar de las maquiladoras ensambladoras a un complejo industrial con alto valor agregado nacional en sus exportaciones.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/11/14/index.php?section=opinion&article=031a1eco
Trabajadores de la maquila protestan ante la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT), Feb 26, 2010
The Telephone Workers’ Union of Mexico, The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM,) the Democratic Lawyers Association (ANAD), and the labor organizations, unions, and other allied organizations who are CJM members on February 22nd presented a complaint to the Freedom of Association Committee of the International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting in Mexico City. (Please see the link OIT ). The complaint focuses on violations of Mexican maquiladora workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. CJM, maquiladora workers, and CJM member organizations compiled the evidence in the complaint from cases in the maquiladora industry located on the northern border of Mexico. The cases date from 1994, the year the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.
http://sdmaquila.blogspot.com/2010/03/trabajadoresas-de-la-maquila-protestan.html
Llegan a Tijuana más empresas de las que salen
Llegan a Tijuana más empresas de las que salen
Diario de San Diego, Mar Mar 9 2010
http://diariosandiego.com/bin/articulos.cgi?ID=84381&q=1&s=34
(Notimex, México)
Diario de San Diego, Mar Mar 9 2010
http://diariosandiego.com/bin/articulos.cgi?ID=84381&q=1&s=34
(Notimex, México)
En el último año, en Tijuana, Baja California, la recesión económica en casas matrices, más que la inseguridad, motivó la salida de 23 empresas, pero llegaron 42 nuevas y otras 20 invirtieron en su expansión.
La violencia e inseguridad preocupaban hace cinco o siete años, "ahora, en los planes de inversión, juega más la ubicación, la logística, los incentivos fiscales, la experiencia en materia de maquiladoras y los 52 parques industriales en Tijuana", dijo el presidente de Desarrollo Económico e Industrial de Tijuana, Gerardo Brizuela Altamirano.
El representante expuso el comportamiento en esa ciudad fronteriza al anunciar el Encuentro Tijuana Innovadora 2010, que se realizará del 7 al 21 de octubre, con la asistencia de los premios Nobel de la Paz, Al Gore; de Química, Mario Molina; y de Economía, Robert Aumann.
En el encuentro también se programa la presencia del director general de la OCDE, José Angel Gurría, dijo en una conferencia de prensa organizada por la Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Transformación (Canacintra).
Brizuela adelantó también que en los próximos 45 días se concretarán inversiones por 17 mil millones de dólares en materia automotriz, lo que generará hasta 900 empleos, aunque se reservó el nombre de la industria automotriz.
Agregó que recientemente se realizó una inversión de 25 millones de dólares para la expansión del aeropuerto internacional de Tijuana. "Somos el tercer aeropuerto con mejor conectividad y el cuarto en operación de viajes; se esperan otros 20 millones de dólares de inversión para los siguientes cinco años".
En materia de infraestructura, destacó que hay un avance de 80 por ciento en la construcción de concreto hidráulico en las principales vialidades de Tijuana. En total, se construirán 42 kilómetros con una inversión de mil 700 millones de pesos, lo que da mayor competitividad al transporte de mercancías.
Respecto al proyecto portuario de Punta Colonet, recordó que el secretario de Comunicaciones y Transportes, Juan Molinar, comentó que "el proyecto estaba en el gimnasio, tomando fuerza, lo que nos da confianza, pues sería un detonador. Esperamos buenas noticias antes de que termine el semestre".
Brizuela Altamirano sostuvo que empiezan a regresar a Tijuana las empresas que hace años salieron por la inseguridad. En la actualidad, precisó, 30 por ciento de las inversiones en esa ciudad provienen del sur del país.
Aseveró que la apertura de una empresa en Tijuana tarda de cinco a 10 días, a reserva de los trámites que se requieran si el negocio tiene implicaciones de carácter ambiental.
Por su parte, el presidente del Encuentro Tijuana Innovadora 2010, José Galicot, señaló que el reto es traer industrias estadunidenses a México, en vez de que se exporten ingenieros mexicanos hacia el vecino país del norte.
De igual forma, indicó que es necesario que las universidades volteen hacia la tecnología, se invierta en educación e investigación. "En Tijuana hay más actividad cultural que en San Diego, Estados Unidos".
Anulan derechos laborales
Líderes sindicales textileros negocian la anulación de derechos laborales
Pusieron fin a prestaciones y futuros trabajadores sólo podrán pactar salarios: FAT
PATRICIA MUÑOZ RÍOS
Periódico La Jornada, Lunes 8 de marzo de 2010, p. 19
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/03/08/index.php?section=politica&article=019n1pol
Pusieron fin a prestaciones y futuros trabajadores sólo podrán pactar salarios: FAT
PATRICIA MUÑOZ RÍOS
Periódico La Jornada, Lunes 8 de marzo de 2010, p. 19
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/03/08/index.php?section=politica&article=019n1pol
Los líderes sindicales del sector textil Fermín Lara, de la Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos, y Miguel Ángel Tapia, de la Confederación de Trabajadores de México, aceptaron y firmaron una modificación radical al contrato ley de dicha industria que significa la renuncia a los derechos laborales para los futuros empleados del ramo.
En una nueva fórmula para acabar con las prestaciones y derechos que otorgan dichos contratos, ahora se están alcanzando acuerdos entre algunos líderes sindicales y cámaras o representaciones empresariales para determinar que los futuros trabajadores ya no tendrán las mismas prestaciones.
Ello significa la defunción anticipada de los contratos ley y que en adelante éstos se conviertan en megaconvenios de protección patronal, denunció el Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT).
Esa renuncia a los derechos laborales inclusive ya se publicó en el Diario Oficial de la Federación, por lo cual es un hecho consumado que los nuevos empleados sólo contarán con salario y prestaciones que marca la ley, haciendo a un lado las conquistas obtenidas por el gremio durante décadas, planteó la organización.
Según la organización, la eliminación de prestaciones significa un atraco a lo ganado en los contratos ley durante décadas. Las siguientes generaciones quedarán fuera de los beneficios laborales alcanzados, lo cual quiere decir la extinción de los mismos.
El FAT hizo ver que el pasado 4 de diciembre los líderes mencionados renunciaron, en nombre de la coalición, a los mismos derechos en el ramo listones, elásticos, encajes y cintas, dejando prácticamente sólo la posibilidad de negociar el porcentaje del salario mínimo para quienes se contraten en el futuro y quitándoles cláusulas que amparan tabuladores, prestaciones y condiciones de trabajo.
Esto es una traición y burla. No se ha visto en ningún país, durante toda la restructuración económica y productiva, una negociación de esas características, en la que se vendan los derechos obtenidos durante años de luchas, llegando a la extinción a esos contratos, aseveró el FAT, y pregunta: ¿Qué fue lo que hizo aceptar la renuncia a los derechos de los trabajadores?
Para la organización, los dos contratos modificados perjudican a miles de trabajadores, quienes en el futuro no tendrán qué negociar.
TRW Workers Make History!
Mexican Labor Authorities Recognize the TRW Workers’ Coalition
A Historic Precedent!
Your letters and solidarity are making a difference!
Please continue supporting TRW workers by demanding accountability from TRW headquarters
March 10, 2010
Labor authorities responded to demands of TRW Workers in Reynosa, Mexico, by threatening TRW management with a fine if they fail to appear at hearing
TRW management showed up at the Labor Department hoping to negotiate with the Workers Coalition but without success
The Mexican government responded to CJM members’ letters that exposed the lack of enforcement of labor law and the complicity of labor authorities.
Actions:
Ciudad Juarez Foxconn: Trabajadoras queman maquiladora- workers burn down a maquiladora
(English version below)
Trabajadoras incendian maquiladora taiwanesa en Ciudad Juarez en protesta por abusos
Anuncian huelga y señalan parcialidad de autoridades laborales
Despide maquiladora de Juárez a 300 obreros a raíz de protesta
Rubén Villalpando
Corresponsal
Periódico La Jornada
Viernes 26 de febrero de 2010, p. 33
Ciudad Juárez, Chih., 25 de febrero. La maquiladora de capital taiwanés Foxconn comenzó a despedir a alrededor de 300 empleados que la semana pasada participaron en una protesta en la cual quemaron el comedor de la empresa y apedrearon los dormitorios de los gerentes.
Jesús Sánchez, representante legal de Foxconn, dijo que a raíz de los problemas con los trabajadores, un cliente decidió cancelar un contrato de proveeduría, por lo que fue necesario recortar a los trabajadores del área que producía dicha mercancía.
La mañana de este jueves unos 70 obreros protestaron fuera de la compañía porque en el turno de la noche les notificaron sin explicación alguna que estaban despedidos, y para evitar protestas fueron desalojados por agentes del Centro de Inteligencia Policial de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública estatal.
La maquiladora se encuentra a 20 kilómetros de la mancha urbana, en el sector de Santa Teresa, y ensambla computadoras.
El 20 de febrero, aproximadamente 300 obreros del turno nocturno quemaron el comedor y rompieron vidrios de los dormitorios de los directivos cuando éstos trataron de obligarlos a trabajar tiempo extra después de la medianoche. En esa ocasión no llegaron los autobuses que a las 12 llevan a los trabajadores a sus hogares y éstos dijeron que estaban retenidos contra su voluntad.
La empresa aseguró que no habría represalias contra los empleados, pero ayer por la noche dio a conocer el despido de todo el turno nocturno.
Jesús José Díaz Monárrez, secretario general de la Federación Regional de Trabajadores del Norte, de filiación cetemista, anunció que este jueves se emplazará a huelga a la maquiladora porque la planta ha violado los derechos de los trabajadores. Asimismo cuestionó la actuación viciada de la Junta Local de Conciliación y Arbitraje al averiguar lo ocurrido durante la protesta en Foxconn. La supervisión se llevó a cabo en presencia de los jefes inmediatos de los trabajadores, quienes se inhibieron para externar sus inconformidades por temor a que los despidieran, como sucedió hoy. El también diputado local priísta pidió que el Congreso local cree una comisión para defender a los obreros.
En Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, más de 900 trabajadores están en la incertidumbre porque cuatro maquiladoras cerraron sin pagar liquidaciones, informó la Dirección de Trabajo y Previsión Social. Rogelio López Pompa, titular de la dependencia estatal, indicó que tres empresas desaparecieron a finales de 2009 y afectaron a 800 obreros de los municipios de Reynosa, Matamoros y González. La cuarta cerró este año en Reynosa, en perjuicio de 180 trabajadores.
La Junta de Concialiación en Reynosa aplicó un embargo precautorio de bienes y entabló un juicio. Si la empresa no responde se pondrá a la venta la maquinaria, advirtió.
Con información de Notimex
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Foxconn workers burn down a factory
Posted by Jeff Morgan (02/20/2010 @ 7:53 pm)
No one likes to be lied to by an employer, though few ever take that dislike as far as Foxconn workers in Mexico. Apparently a group of Foxconn employees set fire to their factory after management attempted to coerce workers into overtime labor without compensation.
Foxconn’s Juarez, Mexico facility uses transportation trucks to ferry workers to and from the plant every day. Yesterday, supervisors at the plant told workers that the trucks had been delayed at a military checkpoint and instructed the employees to continue working until the trucks arrived. As it turns out, the trucks were sitting in the parking lot, presumably parked-in on purpose. It wasn’t the first time the factory had pulled a stunt like this, so the workers decided to get even. They torched the gymnasium, which is where the plant keeps all of its finished cell phones and computers.
Don’t be surprised if there’s suddenly a bit of an iPhone shortage in certain parts of the country.
Foxconn Blasts Worker, Media after Mexico Factory Fire
Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on February 22, 2010
“Misleading and twisted.” That’s what Taiwanese electronics giant Hon Hai Precision is saying about coverage of a conflict with some workers at a factory in Mexico owned by its Foxconn Technology Group. Hon Hai spokesman Edmund C.A. Ding today released a statement saying that buses that usually transport workers back from the Foxconn Juarez Santa Teresa campus at the end of the night shift didn’t show up on Feb. 19. The statement said 30 people in the waiting area covered their faces with bandanas and started “spreading malicious rumors of how Foxconn would not give overtime pay for late bus to agitate the crowd.” The workers tried to prevent the bus from reaching the campus, the statement continues, and employees started a fire in a community center. The company said the incident had been planned in advance by a former employee with a “personal score to settle.” Foxconn says it will pursue legal action against the former employee only, and not any other workers involved.
As it has done in the past, Hon Hai also is targeting the media. “The Group will take legal action against any malicious manipulation of media to spread erroneous rumor to cause harm to the Group,” the statement says. Hon Hai has shown that it’s not shy about going after reporters. In 2006, the company sued two Chinese journalists for defamation, only to withdraw the suit following a storm of criticism from the Chinese blogosphere. That strategy didn’t work in a country not exactly known for being media friendly, though. We’ll see whether it fares any better in Mexico.
Sony sold Tijuana to Foxconn
Competition prompts Sony's Baja decision
By Mike Freeman, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 2 a.m.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/sep/02/plunging-tv-prices-challenge-makers/
Sony's decision this week to sell its flat panel television factory in Tijuana to a Taiwan-based manufacturing conglomerate shows how TV makers are looking for new ways to compete as prices continue to plunge.
“I think from Sony's perspective, it has been a challenge in the U.S. market because it's so competitive,” said Paul Semenza, a senior vice president with Display Research, which follows the industry. “In certain regions like Japan, consumers really want a certain high level of quality and are willing to pay for it. In the U.S., it's a much more price-sensitive market.”
Stiff competition for liquid crystal display TVs, the flat-panel kind produced at the Sony's Tijuana plant, has caused prices in North America to drop about 30 percent over the past year, said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD Group in New York.
“As prices go down, you have to be competitive,” he said. “A lesson to be learned from the computer business is there is an awful lot of costs in manufacturing that might be better left to somebody with more leverage when every penny counts.”
On Monday, Sony said it will sell a 90 percent stake in its sprawling TV factory in Tijuana to Hon Hai Precision Industry Corp. Ltd., a leading outsource manufacturer of everything from iPods to Playstation 3 game consoles.
The Tijuana factory produces the bulk of Sony's LCD televisions sold in the Americas. Hon Hai will continue to make the televisions for Sony at the site. According to Sony, Hon Hai will retain all 3,300 employees.
As a huge electronics contract manufacturer, Hon Hai can drive a hard bargain with suppliers because it purchases in big volumes. In addition, it makes some of the components used in LCD televisions itself, according to analysts, which could further lower the cost of the LCDs it makes for Sony.
According to industry research firm iSuppli, Sony ranked third in the U.S. for unit shipments of LCD TVs in the second quarter with a 12 percent market share. It trailed Vizio, with 22 percent, and Samsung, at 21 percent.
Opened in 1985, Sony's Baja plant helped provide symbolic legitimacy to Tijuana's maquiladora industry. Initially, it made TV cabinets. But over the years it grew into an important cog in Sony's TV manufacturing operations.
The transaction with Hon Hai, which is also known as Foxconn, is expected to be completed within a few months. The financial terms were not disclosed, but Sony said it is not expected to have a material impact on the company this fiscal year.
Sony's move to sell the plant to Hon Hai/Foxconn came as a surprise to some in Tijuana's maquiladora industry.
In June, Baja California government officials said Sony was adding 1,500 positions at the factory as it moved production there from two TV plants it was closing — one in Mexicali and the other in Pittsburgh.
Moreover, Hon Hai/Foxconn has been looking for land in Tijuana, presumably to build its own facilities, said Tony Ramirez, a partner in San Diego-based Made In Mexico and a longtime board member of the Tijuana Maquiladora Association.
“We knew Foxconn has been snooping around for some time,” he said. “Everyone assumed they were going to be setting up their own operation.”
In outsourcing its TV manufacturing, Sony joins other TV brands that use contractors to make their products. Vizio, one of the most aggressive price competitors in the flat panel TV market, has no manufacturing facilities of its own, Semenza said.
Large out-source manufacturers tend to have more negotiating power with suppliers and expertise in manufacturing that helps lower costs.
“This is not unique to Sony,” said Semenza, the Display Research analyst. “Other major brands do it. They tend not to do it at the leading edge of their product portfolio. They do it when the pricing has become more of commodity-type pricing.”
Sony Outsources Border Plant
Frontera Norte Sur
http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/ (See "Tijuana News")
Battered by multi-billion dollar losses, Sony Corp. has decided to outsource production at a large Tijuana factory. The Japan-based consumer electronics giant announced this week it will sell a 90 percent interest in a factory that manufactures LCD television screens to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.of Taiwan. Production at the plant will be managed by Hon Hai’s Foxconn division.
The deal was given a political stamp of approval by Baja California Governor Jose Osuna Millan and other high state officials. In a Tijuana meeting earlier this week, Governor Osuna thanked Sony President Takahiro Kawamura for investing in the northern Mexican state. The National Action Party governor told Kawamura that Baja California is quite open to future dealings with Sony. After returning the appreciations, Kawamura said that Baja California has a proven track record in doing business.
No details of the Sony-Foxconn agreement were immediately disclosed, but initial reports suggested that the 3,300 workers at the Tijuana factory would still have jobs. Foxconn, however, is among many electronics manufacturers that routinely outsource jobs to temporary employment agencies which don’t pay the full range of benefits. The Taiwan-based industry leader makes computers and consumer electronics for companies including Sony, Apple, Cisco, HP, Nintendo, Motorola, and Nokia.
Enjoying nearly $40 billion in earnings in 2006, Foxconn emerged as the world’s largest electronics parts manufacturer, according to a report by the Guadalajara-based Center for Reflection and Labor Action (Cereal).
In addition to Tijuana, Foxconn is currently expanding production activities in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Prior to the onset of the world recession, Tijuana was the center of television production in Mexico, dominating 70 percent of the national market share, according to the Cereal report.
Typically, electronics components used in the manufacturing process in Tijuana are shipped in from Asia for final product assembly on the border.
Sources: Frontera, September 1, 2009. Los Angeles Times/Associated Press, September 1, 2009. Juarez-El Paso Now, August 2009. Cereal report, October 2007.
Comment by Citygroup
see also http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2009/09/02/2003452602
"Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) will buy the stake in a liquid-crystal-display TV unit based in Tijuana, Mexico, and the unit’s manufacturing assets...The sale signals that Sony — which is cutting 16,000 jobs and has shut eight factories to revive its profitability as it heads into its first consecutive annual losses since its listing in 1958 — may eventually stop making TVs, said Kota Ezawa, an analyst at Citigroup Inc in Tokyo."
Sony Sells 90% Of Tijuana LCD TV Plant, Forms Strategic Alliance with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry
Sony Insider
http://www.sonyinsider.com/2009/09/01/sony-sells-90-of-tijuana-lcd-tv-plant-forms-strategic-alliance-with-taiwans-hon-hai-precision-industry/
Sony has announced that it has agreed to form a strategic alliance with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. (also known as Foxconn) for the production of LCD TVs in the Americas. Based on this agreement, Sony will sell to Hon Hai Group 90% of its shares in Sony Baja California and certain manufacturing assets related to Sony Baja California’s Tijuana site in Mexico, which mainly manufactures LCD TVs for the Americas region. Following the sale, Hon Hai Group will hold 90% ownership of Sony Baja California and the Sony Group will retain a 10% share. The Tijuana site will remain a key manufacturing facility of Sony LCD TVs for the Americas region. Hon Hai Group will assume employment of employees at the Tijuana site.
Within its LCD TV business, Sony is concentrating internal resources towards areas that contribute to product differentiation, such as R&D, engineering and design, while also establishing a structure that enables the company to bring attractive products to market at the earliest possible opportunity. At the same time, by proactively leveraging external manufacturing resources Sony will also seek to reduce fixed costs, drive other cost reductions, improve profitability and achieve business expansion.
Completions of the transfers are subject to regulatory approvals in several countries. No material impact from the transfer on Sony’s consolidated financial results for the current fiscal year for the transfer is anticipated.
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