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Workers to Testify On Health and Safety Abuses at Maquiladora Plants

11 December 2000

Mexican Workers to Testify in San Antonio, December 12 On Health and Safety Abuses at Maquiladora Plants

    SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 8 Twenty current and former workers from
U.S.-owned maquiladora factories in Mexico will testify about health and
safety abuses in their workplaces in San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday,
December 12.
    The testimony will take place at a public hearing convened by the U.S.
Department of Labor (DOL), beginning at 9 a.m. in the San Antonio City Council
Chambers, in the Municipal Building at 103 Main Plaza in San Antonio.
    Current and former workers from Custom Trim in Valle Hermoso and Auto Trim
in Matamoros, two auto supply factories owned by Lakeland, Florida-based Breed
Technologies, will testify at the hearing.  They will provide evidence about
severe health hazards in their workplaces, including repeated exposure to open
containers of chemicals containing benzene, toluene, methyl chloroform, and
other known carcinogens.
    Workers at Custom Trim and Auto Trim report coughing up blood, fainting
spells, respiratory distress, and uncommonly high rates of birth defects and
miscarriages.  They also report various unsafe work practices leading to
severe repetitive strain injuries and cuts, gouges and other hand, face and
body injuries.
    The U.S. DOL hearing is pursuant to a complaint filed under the terms of
the North American Agreement on Labor Co-operation, a side accord to the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
    Participants in the hearing will hold a news conference in City Council
chambers at the Municipal Building during the lunch break of the DOL hearing.
    Speakers will include:

    Current and former workers from Auto Trim and Custom Trim;
    Martha Ojeda of the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras;
    Manuel Mondragon of Pastoral Juvenal Obrera,
    Dr. Frank Mirer, director of Health and Safety for the United Auto
     Workers.

    The DOL hearing is open to the public and the news media.  However, the
use of cameras and the photographing of some witnesses will be restricted in
order to protect their testimony.