Protests in Nogales Maquiladora
Nogales, Sonora, Mexico –
This Tuesday morning, workers of a maquiladora in Nogales, Sonora, protested outside the facility accusing their employer of not closing the facility as a preventive measure for Covid19 and instead terminated their contracts without paying them the corresponding severance amount.
Alejandra Lugo and Jenny Torres explained they are protesting that the company is not taking preventive actions for Covid-19, and they claim that despite several attempts to contact the company’s management team, they have not been available to address their concerns.
They reported that last Friday around 60 workers protested outside the facility saying that the product manufactured there should be classified as non-essential therefore the operation should close just like other non-essential industries have done so. They also accused their employer of not providing preventive equipment or measures against Covid-19.
Several workers explained that the company dismissed about 20 people with proper severance payment but the rest were let go, though they did receive an offer first but the workers considered them inappropriate payment and opted not to sing.
The workers explained that some people came out winning, working for a month and a half and the business paid around 22,000 pesos, however one worker that had been with the company for 15 years was offered 62,000 and they considered the numbers did not add up.
Up until this morning, the protesters had not been contacted by anyone and they were requesting the presence of Sonora’s Labor Authorities to deal with the problem.
Local policemen remained onsite through the morning and around noon elements of the National Guard arrived, meanwhile the workers continued outside the maquiladora located at Industrial Park Nuevo Nogales.
Lorenzo´s Case
After fifteen years working for this Nogales maquiladora, Lorenzo Guerrero Sandoval was recently fired from the company, which according to him, had accused him of being an instigator. He said that he started working for this company in 2005 and currently works as a Class 5 operator.
He added that after showing his unconformity with colleagues in a protest last Friday over the Covid-19 issue, he was told he would be fired. He described he was offered 62,000 mexican pesos, an amount which he thinks may not be the right severance compensation.
“They offered me the check and they said you do not belong to this company, you do not want to work, you are fired, and I told them that what they wanted to give me was unfair and when I asked why I was fired, they told me because I was an instigator. I am being considered an instigator for holding a protest, I think we are free to express what we feel and the protest is about Coronavirus and the risk that people who work in crowded sites run inside.”
The Border Reports Note: Over the course of the day, we made several attempts to locate company personnel to gather their version of the events and response to the statements made by the protesters, however we did not receive any responses. Once we obtain a response from the maquiladora, the name of the company will be released. At the time of this post no official statement has been issued by the company.
