Abstract
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) represents a very different response to the globalization process than the European Union (EU), and the contrast between the two regions is exemplified by the approach to labour issues. Both regions have had to face global demands for increased competitiveness, but while the EU has adopted a series of institutional measures which seek to prevent the downward harmonization of wages and labour standards, for example in the form of regional and structural funds, the Social Charter, and the Social Dialogue, such initiatives are practically absent in NAFTA. Besides the weak ‘parallel agreements’ on labour and the environment which were attached at the very last minute to an otherwise purely commercial and financial treaty, there is no institutional framework in NAFTA designed to discourage downward competition on wages and labour standards (as opposed to competing in product design, quality, production capacity and so on), nor to alleviate the consequences for workers as they experience the adverse pressures of the free market.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aziz Nassif, A. (1989) El Estado mexicano y la CTM (Mexico: CIESAS).
Bizberg, I. (1990) Estado y sindicalismo en México (México: Colegio de México).
Carrillo, J. and RamÃrez, M.A. (1990) ‘Maquiladoras en la frontera norte: Opinión sobre los sindicatos’, Frontera Norte, no. 4, pp. 121-52.
Carrillo, J. (1994) Dos Décadas de Sindicalismo en la Industria Maquiladora de Exportación. Examen en las ciudades de Tijuana, Juárez y Matamoros, (Mexico: UAM-I/Miguel Angel Porrua).
Compa, L. (1996) ‘Another Look at the NAFTA Labour Accord’, paper presented at International Labour Rights and Standards After NAFTA, Rutgers University Labour Education Center, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2–3 May.
Compa, L. (1997) ‘NAFTA’s Labour Side Accord: A 3-Year Accounting’, unpublished memo.
Cowie, J.R. and French, J.D. (1994) NAFTA’s Labour Side Accord: A Textual Analysis, Duke, University of North Carolina, Program in Latin American Studies.
Damgaard, B. (1997a) ‘Union Response to Economic Integration in North America: A Case Study of the Electronics Sector in Mexico’, paper presented at the research workshop Economic Integration and Inequality — Europe and America, 20–22 March 1997, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, Occasional Paper # 31.
Damgaard, B. (1997b)’ sindicalismo y Globalización. El Caso del Sector Electrónico en México y Estados Unidos: Un Estudie Comparativo’, Ph.D. dissertation, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, FLACSO-México.
de la O, M.E. and RamÃrez, CO. (1995) ‘Trayectorias laborales y estabilidad en las maquiladoras de Matamoros’, Frontera Norte, no. 13, pp. 67-92.
DÃaz González, E. (1995) ‘Estudio sectorial de las manufacturas eléctricas’, Seminario de PolÃtica Industrial; División de Estudios de Posgrado; Facultad de EconomÃa, UNAM, memo.
INEGI (Instituto Nacional de EstadÃstica, GeografÃa e Informática) (1992) Anuario EstadÃstica de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos 1992.
INEGI (1996) Encuesta Industrial Mensual, Electronic data base
INEGI (1998) Industria Maquiladora de Exportación.
Kenney, M. and Lowe, N. (1996) ‘To Create an Industry — The Growth of Consumer Electronics Manufacturing in Mexico and Taiwan’, memo.
Lobe, J. (1995) ‘CEOs’ Salaries/Mexican Workers Salaries’, Inter Press Service 29 April.
Middlebrook, K.J. (1995) The Paradox of Revolution. Labour, the State and Authoritanism in Mexico (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).
Quintero, C. (1992) Reestructuración sindical en las maquiladoras mexicanas 1970–1990, tesis de doctorado en sociologÃa, Mexico: El Colegio de México.
Quintero, C. (1993) ‘Flexibilidad sindical en las maquiladoras: el caso de Agapito Gonzáles Cavazos’, El Cotidiano, no. 52, pp. 92-6.
Robinson, I. (1994) ‘NAFTA, Social Unionism, and Labour Movement Power in Canada and the United States’, Relations Industrielles, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 657–94.
Schmidt, S. (1997), En busca de la decisión. La industria maquiladora de Ciudad Juárez (Ciudad Juárez: Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juárez. Colección Sin Fronteras).
Zepeda Miramontes, E. (1993) ‘El TLC y la industrialización en la frontera norte de México’ in Covarrubias y Lara (ed.), Relaciones Industriales y Productividad en el Norte de México: Tendencias y Problemas (México: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1999 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Damgaard, B. (1999). Labour and Economic Integration: The Case of the Electronics Sector in Mexico. In: Appendini, K., Bislev, S. (eds) Economic Integration in NAFTA and the EU. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-333-99488-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-333-99488-7_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-27278-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-333-99488-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)