AMY WINKLER

President Peter Likins (right) talks at a sweatshop discussion panel held on the Mall yesterday with Joel Stillerman, a Latin American Studies professor and Paula Arnquist from the Southern Arizona Alliance for Economic Justice. Topics discussed included the UA contract with Nike.

Tuesday September 11, 2001

After several months of fighting, Mexican workers unionize

Workers at a Mexican factory that produces UA clothing managed to successfully form a union last weekend after eight months of efforts and are in the process of negotiating a contract with factory owners.

The unionization of the Kukdong factory, which produces Nike merchandise for the UA, came as good news to Students Against Sweetshops member Rachael Wilson, who participated in a panel discussion on workers' rights with University of Arizona President Peter Likins and other campus leaders yesterday in front of Old Main.

"People said it couldn't be done. People said students couldn't change anything," she told the audience. "Those people were wrong."

Joel Stillerman, a Latin American Studies professor, said Mexican workers are often times told it is illegal to unionize.

"The case of Kukdong is not a story of a bad apple," Stillerman said. "This is the structure of factories on the other side of the border."

In addition, Stillerman said factories systematically test women to find if they are pregnant and then dismiss them to avoid paying maternity leave.

Low wages and long work hours, however, have been the main reasons groups like SAS have taken an active role in the interests of Mexican workers, he said.

Likins said the UA should be engaged in social causes like the sweatshop issue. This topic has been hotly debated over the past several years due to a contract the university shares with Nike.

"We have a responsibility to address these issues of social injustice," he said. "And we have attempted to involve our faculty in the decision.

Paula Arnquist, director of the Southern Arizona Alliance for Economic Justice, said free trade agreements have had a poor effect on workers' rights.

She said there has been a 23 percent drop in wages since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.

Arnquist also said the average Mexican factory worker is paid - in American terms - only $3 to $4 a day, and she pointed out that many food products are more expensive in Mexico than in the United States.

She cited a study done recently by her organization, which found that an average Mexican factory worker must work nine hours in order to have enough money to buy one kilogram of cheese.

Wilson said the contract negotiations for the Kukdong workers are expected to go smoothly. After that, they will work toward salary increases.

She said other factories in the surrounding area have increased salaries to attempt to stop other unionization efforts.