Documentation Project

PUSHING BACK...Women Workers Speak Out on Free Trade

STITCH presents a new publication that explores the impact of free trade on women workers in Central America and the United States . In their own words, these courageous women talk about their lives and their struggle to survive in—and challenge—an economic system that is stacked against them. This publication is completely bi-lingual (English and Spanish) and includes stories of women working in export clothing factories, healthcare, and agriculture.

Selected Quotes

On treatment in the factories….

To make changes, you have to leave fear behind. We knew that we could be fired and we took the risk. But when I talked to other workers I explained that the boss fired people every day without reason, only because they were going to complete 500 hours of work and they would start earning a regular salary. The supervisor would go to the line where the person was working and say in front of everybody, with complete arrogance, ‘I don’t like your work and you’re leaving now.’ It hit me like a whip, even though they didn’t say it to me. When we came in to work, we said to ourselves, ‘Who will it be now?’

On being a woman in the Union ….

Through the union, I’ve gotten a lot of training. At times, I've had to stand up to the men to get them to respect our right to equality. Sometimes, we women make a proposal that they don't accept and then we have to take it to the general assemblies so that they authorize us to carry it out. Machismo is an obstacle we still haven't been able to overcome. I've always struggled to keep moving

ahead and creating space for women to participate fully. I’ve really liked being able to help other women workers who sometimes don't even know how to sign their names.

Women have had a very difficult situation because in the past, we barely had access to education like we do today. Very few of us really have any formal schooling. So I set out to help my fellow co-workers and strengthen the union. I have been able to sign up more women, which has been really satisfying for me. My struggle is to keep on signing up more people in order to build up the organization.

On Privatization of Services…

Since they privatized basic services like electricity and the telephone, they haven't raised benefits, haven't raised salaries—nothing has gone up but the prices. The only people who benefit are the investors, the people who have monopolies on basic services. There are so few of them that everyone knows who they are. It's the same people who benefited from privatizing pensions and from dollarization.2

One of our members told me, ‘I've got to take out this light bulb because I can't pay the electricity bill this month. But I can't take out my eye. I can't take off a hand, you know?’ With privatization, health care is treated as a business and not as a human right. The investor’s only concern is, ‘Is there a profit or not?’ So, in our country, it is like killing us because we cannot afford it.

For the full story of these courageous women, order your copy of “Pushing Back” today!

You can order by clicking here…Or print this flyer and return.

Women Behind the Labels

In order to understand the full impact of the globalization of the economy on workers, it is not enough to ask the opinions of leaders of developing countries. We must ask the people sewing the garments and picking the fruit for the U.S. market. In 1998, STITCH launched a documentation project to make these voices heard. The result is Women Behind the Labels, a collection of eight interviews with women leaders organizing for justice in the apparel and banana sectors in Guatemala and Honduras. These short and accessible interviews cover a broad range of topics, including working conditions, family relationships, personal histories and the emotional decision to organize. Each interview includes a short introduction to the woman who is telling her story and some background on the relevant plant, industry, and country. We envision this booklet to be used as an educational tool for activists, teachers, union educators and rank and file members.

"Every stitch of every garment we wear contains the hidden story of a woman's life and struggles. In Women Behind the Labels you can finally read these stories for yourself—and be inspired by the courage and determination that shines through them!" — Barbara Ehrenreich, US feminist journalist and political analyst

Click here to order a copy of Women Behind the Labels.

Printing generously donated by the Public Service Alliance of CanadaDescription: 42 pages, 8.5" x 7".

Excerpts from Women Behind the Labels

ON WAGES AND UNION BUSTING:

"My pay for the first two weeks at Daimi was 90 quetzals [US$15]. Oh, it made me want to cry. Everyday I had to pay for four bus trips and food, and then to receive only 90 quetzals. It made me very angry, but I couldn't quit because my sister had just left her husband and we needed the money. I didn't complain about the wages because I didn't know how much I was entitled to. At that point I didn't even know what the minimum wage was. Then, I started going to meetings. We'd look over the lists of workers to identify people we might be able to recruit. Over time, I was able to recruit a number of people from my line. Soon the owners started getting suspicious. They started watching some of the workers. About that time, there were several waves of firings. This was in 1997. I hardly knew anyone who was fired in the first round. I knew one person that was fired in the second round. I was fired in the third round. By then, I was 24, one of the older workers. " -- Marie Mejia, a 29 year-old factory organizer and former apparel worker fired and blacklisted for organizing. Marie also shares her experience as a child coffee worker in the highlands of Guatemala and as a teenage domestic worker on the Guatemala-Mexico border.

ON BEING A TRADE UNIONIST:

"My first job [in the factory] was cutting cloth. I only did that for two days. On the third day, a supervisor, who was very tough, put me on a machine attaching sleeves. She wanted to take advantage of me because I was so young. She insulted me, made me cry, and hit me. She threw pieces of cloth in my face and demanded that I attach sleeves as fast as the more experienced workers. That's how I learned my first operation. I was 17 when I first joined the union. Once I understood what unions could mean for workers, I was able to recruit a lot of compañeras. But here in Honduras, trade unionists are treated like criminals. If you try to organize a union, they take pictures of you and send them to the other companies. That makes it very difficult for a worker to get a job once she's known as a unionist. At first, I was afraid, but later I thought, why should I be afraid? Legal is legal, and I'm really only defending the laws of our country." — Yesenia Bonilla, a 24 year-old factory worker and union leader. Yesenia led an historic struggle for a union in a Honduran factory called KIMI, producing clothes for JCPenny. Yesenia also talks about the effects of Hurricane Mitch on her family and the union.

ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN THE BANANA INDUSTRY:

"The men have a guaranteed weekly salary, which means the company has them working every day, even if it is only for a few hours. That's why if there is no work in the packing plant, they are sent to the fields. Women have no such guarantee, and only get paid when we are working. I think women should have a guaranteed salary just like the men. We should be paid for our efforts. To tell you the truth, the transnational companies have always wanted to exploit and pay women less. We are doing what we can to change this, starting with educating our compañeras. Through the women's issues committee we organized, more women are participating in the discussions. And recently we had two or three compañeras involved in the negotiations and speaking out about women's needs. We should have a collective agreement that we are proud of, that is for the good of everyone, women and men." — Alma Mejia, a 45 year-old Chiquita banana worker in Honduras. Alma helped to start a women's issues committee in the late 70s, an effort that caught on in many banana unions in the region, permanently increasing women's participation and power within the union.