ARTICLES

Pregnancy-Free Work

28 PERCENT SAVINGS IN LABOR COSTS

Foreign companies operating factories in Mexico, most with corporate headquarters in the United States, routinely deny work to those who are pregnant or who might become pregnant.

The factories, called maquiladoras, are usually located close to the border in cities like Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Matamoros and Reynosa. International firms use cheap Mexican labor, do not have to pay duties on raw materials imported into Mexico, and get a huge tax break when the assembled products are shipped back to their home country. The Mexican government estimates that 2,600 maquiladoras employ nearly 874,000 Mexicans, more than half women. As of June 1997, there were 567 maquiladoras operating in Tijuana.

"These corporations see hiring pregnant workers as a drain on their resources and as having a potentially detrimental effect on production," said Human Rights Watch, an international organization based in New York in a report released in December 1998.

"I never heard of this," said Ken Barrera, treasurer for San Diego-based ComAir Rotron, which manufactures fans and blowers for computers and telecommunications devices in Tijuana and was named in the Human Rights Watch report. Barrera confirmed that the company has an on-site physician and does conduct pre-employment medical exams. "We probably do some checking of their medical history, but there may be a misperception about why the exams are done."

The U.S. State Department recognized the problem in a January 1998 report on human rights practices in Mexico: "(Mexican) labor law includes extensive maternity protection, including six weeks off before and six weeks off after childbirth, time off for breastfeeding in adequate and hygienic surroundings provided by the employer, and during pregnancy, full pay and no dismissals, heavy or dangerous work or exposure to toxic substances. There are reports that, in order to avoid these expensive requirements, some employers deliberately violate these provisions by requiring pregnancy tests in preemployment physicals and by exposing pregnant women to difficult or hazardous conditions to make them quit. This reportedly occurs in the low-wage, low-skill, high-turnover end of the in-bond export processing (maquila) industry."

"This is flagrant sex discrimination that these corporations would never dare defend or practice in their own countries," said Human Rights Watch. Women are required to submit urine specimens for pregnancy testing and are asked intimate questions about their sexual practices, whether they use artificial birth control and the regularity of their menstrual cycles, according to the report. If a woman is found to be pregnant, she is not hired, investigators said. In some companies, the practice extends to even after a woman is on the job. At three companies, none of them in Tijuana, women were forced to show their used sanitary napkins to maquiladora medical personnel to prove they were not pregnant.

The most recent Human Rights Watch report was a follow-up to one released in August 1996 that "documented widespread pregnancy-based discrimination." That report resulted in a letter from U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman to her counterpart in Mexico after the agency that enforces labor provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement verified the findings of Human Rights Watch. Women in the United States and Canada are not subjected to similar screenings, which, under NAFTA provisions, would give Mexico an unfair labor advantage and therefore violate the trade agreement.

Between May and November 1997, Human Rights Watch conducted the follow-up investigation released last December. That investigation found "unfettered, widespread, blatant pregnancy-based discrimination persists in Tijuana, Reynosa and Rio Bravo. Moreover, in Ciudad Juárez, an area not covered in the previous report, we found that pregnancy-based discrimination is also rampant. In all four cities, female job applicants routinely undergo various forms of pregnancy screening as a precondition for employment, and, once hired, those who became pregnant face the prospect of being forced to resign because of their pregnancy."

The report was based on the cases of 53 women who sought work or were working at 50 different maquiladoras. "Pregnancy testing is conducted in several ways, most commonly through urine samples -- often obtained in the course of legal pre-hire medical exams given to job applicants," investigators said. "Maquiladora personnel also request information from women applicants about their menses schedule, sexual activity, and use of contraceptives. Pregnant applicants are not hired. In some cases, recently hired women workers are again required to provide proof of pregnancy status by submitting additional pregnancy tests, often in the form of urine samples or medical exams. Those found to be pregnant are routinely forced to resign."

Nineteen maquiladoras in Tijuana were cited in the report. Of the 19, 15 firms failed to respond to Human Rights Watch. Three of the companies that responded denied any wrongdoing, and one promised to change its policies. Human Rights Watch investigators made the following findings:

Required urine samples for pregnancy testing from women applicants: Douglas Furniture de México, owned by Douglas Furniture of California in Redondo Beach; Tijuana Industrial Arcos, owned by Industrial Arcos of San Ysidro; ComAir Rotron de México, owned by ComAir Rotron of San Diego; Samsung Electro-Mecánico, owned by the Samsung Group of Seoul, South Korea; SAFT Componentes Técnicos, owned by SAFT of Romainville, France; BerthaMex, owned by North American Communications of San Diego; Sanyo Batteries, owned by Sanyo Electric Corp. of Osaka, Japan; Tagit de México, owned by Tagit Inc. of Los Angeles; Matsushita-Panasonic de Baja California, owned by Matsushita Electric Corp. of Osaka, Japan; Plásticos BajaCal, owned by Tyco International of Exeter, New Hampshire; Levimex de Baja California, owned by Leviton Manufacturing Co. of Little Neck, N.Y.; and Unisolar, owned by United Solar Systems Co. of Troy, Michigan.

Examined women applicants' abdomen to determine whether pregnant: ComAir Rotron.

Required women applicants to answer questions about pregnancy status on application forms: Maquiladora California, owned by Alpha Southwest of National City; Silviana, parent company unknown; Tijuana Industrial Arcos; Grupo Verde, now closed; Samsung Electro-Mecánico; Sanyo Batteries; Matsushita-Panasonic; Levimex de Baja California; Unisolar; Industrias Ynos, owned by Esselte Pendaflex of Los Angeles.

Required women applicants to answer questions about pregnancy status during interviews with maquiladora personnel: Silviana; Grupo Verde; Ensambles Hyson, owned by Rain Bird of San Diego; Samsung Electro-Mecánico; Marcos Calidad, owned by American Frame Manufacturing of San Diego; Sanyo Batteries; Tagit de México; Confecciones Paolas, owned by Confecciones Paolas of San Ysidro; Industrias Ynos.

Required women to sign forms indicating they were not pregnant: Maquiladora California; Silviana; Tijuana Industrial Arcos.

Asked questions about pregnancy status during medical exams: Microeléctrica de Tijuana, owned by Vertek International of San Diego; Plásticos BajaCal; Industrial Ynos.

Required post-hire urine analysis to determine pregnancy: Panasonic Batteries; Industrias Ynos.

Medical or other personnel asked women workers if they were pregnant: Panasonic Battery; Plásticos BajaCal; Industrial Ynos.

News Notes was able to locate and contact ten of the firms named in the report, but only a handful made a company spokesman available or returned phone calls. All of the companies contacted denied any deliberate violation of labor laws in Mexico.

ComAir Rotron spokesman Barrera said he first wanted to read the report, then check with the maquiladora in Tijuana, although Human Rights Watch lists ComAir Rotron as not responding to its letters and faxes.

At American Frame Manufacturing in San Diego, parent company of Marcos Calidad, makers of plastic and wood frames, import-export manager Rudy Sanchez said he did not believe the Human Rights Watch allegations. "There's three or four pregnant people working there now," he said. "I don't think it's true."

While not denying claims that his company requires pre-employment urine tests for pregnancy and asks questions about pregnancy status on its application forms, Stephen Sokolow, executive vice president of Leviton Manufacturing of Little Neck, N.Y., owner of Levimex de Baja California, said Leviton had violated no Mexican law. "Leviton and all its operations in Mexico are in complete compliance with all rules and regulations, and in no way discriminates against anyone," Sokolow said. Leviton manufactures power supply and extension cords.

Douglas Furniture of Redondo Beach did not respond to inquiries regarding practices at its maquiladora, Douglas Furniture de México, but it did respond to Human Rights Watch. The company said it was "not in violation of any law," according to the report. Samsung also said it was "in conformity with local law," and denied asking women applicants whether they were pregnant.

A secretary for Patricia Prue, senior vice president for human relations at Tyco International of Exeter, N.H., said Ms. Prue was traveling and could not be reached for comment. The secretary transferred the call to another office, but the secretary there said Ms. Prue was the only one who could respond to questions about the Human Rights Watch report. Prue did, however, send a letter to Human Rights Watch on June 5, 1998, denying that Tyco's maquiladora in Tijuana, Plásticos BajaCal, engaged in any of the cited practices. "In my recent investigation on this matter, Plásticos Bajacal confirms that they do not conduct any pregnancy tests (pre or post employment), or ask for proof of pregnancy status or contraceptive use," Prue wrote. "I have also been assured that Plásticos BajaCal has policies and processes actively enforced that ensure employees are not harassed, intimidated or forced to resign as a result of pregnancy." Human Rights Watch says employees at Tyco's maquiladora, interviewed in May 1997, contradict Prue's assertions in the letter. Plásticos BajaCal manufactures plastic hangers.

Only United Solar Systems of Troy, Michigan, parent company of Unisolar in Tijuana, admitted that it used pre-employment pregnancy testing, denied work to pregnant applicants and asked women whether they were pregnant on applications for work. Human Rights Watch said the company "promises to discontinue discriminatory practices."

Among the firms cited in the report that operate maquiladoras in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Matamoros and Reynosa are some of the best-known companies in the U.S., including General Motors of Detroit, Zenith Electronics Corp. of Glenview, Ill., Lear Corp. of Southfield, Michigan, and Sunbeam-Oster of Del Rey Beach, Fla.

Neither federal nor state labor officials in Mexico have sided with Human Rights Watch. They say the report included too small a sample of maquiladoras, and that, only workers who are actually hired are covered by labor laws. In addition, they say, pre-employment pregnancy testing allows the companies to comply with other labor laws that prohibit placing pregnant women in dangerous work environments.

Human Rights Watch, along with the International Labor Rights Fund and the (Mexican) National Association of Democratic Lawyers, insist, however, that labor officials are simply turning a blind eye to practices that are clearly illegal under Mexican law. "The Mexican government has abandoned women workers to the discriminatory practices of maquiladora operators," the report charged. "Women are left having to choose between a job and their rights."

Some of the companies named in the report also participate in an industrial population-control program sponsored by the Border Projects Foundation, Planned Parenthood's Tijuana affiliate. The foundation provides free condoms and contraceptive devices at the factories, and access to tubal ligations and vasectomies at a downtown Tijuana clinic in exchange for a $100 a month fee from participating maquiladoras. The program is funded by Planned Parenthood. Among the firms enrolled in what the foundation calls its "Enterprise Program" are Matsushita, Samsung, Levimex and ComAir Rotron -- all mentioned in the Human Rights Watch report.

Although the maquiladoras deny that they use pregnancy screening as a means to keep costs down, handouts from the Border Projects Foundation provided to plant managers extol the virtues of having a pregnancy-free workplace, and specifically stress the economic benefits: "With a well-coordinated Family Planning Program, you can achieve a savings of up to 28 percent in labor costs," says the pamphlet in a section titled, 'Did you know Mr. Businessman?' The savings are the result of a reduction in absenteeism and of less need to train substitutes for those mothers who have other children and now cannot work."

In a 1996 interview with News Notes, Mon. Sergio De La Cerda, vicar general of the Diocese of Tijuana, was aware of problems faced by women at maquiladoras nearly six months before the first Human Rights Watch report was issued. "They tell people these clinics are for health, or they put up very nice signs saying they are there to help women," noted De La Cerda. "But in some maquiladoras, they pressure women to participate in birth control, and if they refuse they tell them, 'Get out of here.'"