25 November, 2009CEREAL releases report on worsening labour conditions in Mexico's electronics industry. Thousands have lost their jobs and the right to stable employment has been weakened as a result of the financial crisis.
MEXICO: Mexican workers in the supply chains of Nokia, Philips, Panasonic, IBM, HP, Lenovo, Sanmina, Jabil and Flextronics have been hit with 6,000 jobs lost, massive dismissals, a 10 per cent reduction in wages and an increase in temporary three-month and monthly contracts from 40 to 60 per cent of all workers since 2008.
Meanwhile, in the last quarter Sanmina reported growth of 20 per cent since 2008, Nokia has recovered the number of workers they lost in 2008, but now with 75 per cent temporary workers contracted by Manpower, Flextronics has announced 1,000 new jobs and Jabil increased their workers 136 per cent, and HP and IBM announced new investment projects in 2010.
This third report about working conditions in the electronic industry in Mexico, published by CEREAL and released on November 17, shows "in the worst year of the crisis the companies have won and the workers have lost."
The report documents the massive loss of jobs across the electronics industry and the re-employment of workers on lower salaries with greater workloads and weaker rights to stable employment.
"Structural changes are needed in the Mexican electronics industry so we can guarantee that all companies in this sector are socially responsible, even during times of economic crisis," writes CEREAL, The Labor Action and Reflection Center, a non-government organisation that has been working for the rights of electronics workers in Mexico in an environment where unionisation rights are severely restricted.
A copy of the report in English is published on the IMF website here.