Through interviews with workers in the Yucatan textile industry, the Jade Sociales group, which focused on working for workers’ rights, detected irregular practices and human rights violations in this sector.
According to data from Inegi, in Yucatán there are 17,418 economic units related to the textile industry, 97.6 percent of these are small and employ groups of up to 5 people, in addition, women represent 51 percent of the employed personnel in this industry.
Through the study, the importance of both the communities and regions that participate in this industry, as well as the domiciled workshops, is evident.
The responses of those surveyed indicate that they are subject to business and sector policies that negatively impact their salaries and benefits, for example, the omission of profit sharing.
They also indicated that they became victims of non-consensual encounters and behaviors, which included touching and sexual advances in the workplace, constituting sexual harassment.
The report indicates that there are also interactions with union representatives aligned with interests other than the worker base, which is why they often lack this representation.
It also indicates that there is mistreatment in the interactions that they have with people who own the company, relatives of people who own it, human resources areas, or bosses outside the production line.
Mauricio Hernández Estrada, Co-Director of Jade Sociales, pointed out that it is important to face these problems within the framework of labor reforms and Chapter 23 of the T-MEC.
“To improve working conditions in the clothing and textile industry in Yucatán, articulated, strategic, and timely efforts are required; in the current framework there is no room to make workplace violence against women invisible.”
