Pull the Plug on Most Maquilas in Chihuahua?

Tough Calls Are Headed This Way, Very Soon 

In Diario de Juarez today:  (click here)  Mexican law, published last week on March 27, decrees that from now until April 30, manufacturing plants can stay open only if they produce consumer goods, medical equipment, medical technology, or deal with the disposal of infectious diseases.

Three hundred thousand workers--out of a workforce of 450,000--in Juarez work in the manufacturing sector, virtually all of it in the maquila plants.  It is the backbone of the economy in Northern Chihuahua.  Only 39 plants out of 329 manufacture medical supplies.  You cannot stay at home on a laptop and assemble a computer or refrigerator.  The head of the Maquila plant association, Pedro Chavira, estimates that this implies releasing around 264,000 workers from work for (at least) four weeks.

Some sort of negotiation, said Chavira, must take place with these firms to find something that will benefit everyone during this situation.  "What we don't want to do, and it won't happen, is to send these people to their homes with no money." 

Some plants, perhaps as many as 20, have already ceased operations. especially in the auto parts industry, due to a lack of demand as auto makers in the US have already shut their doors.

Each worker in the manufacturing sector, on average, according to Chavira, produces about $1000 in goods.  This implies a loss, he says of up to $34 million (US) each day.

Question:  if the average worker contributes $1000 (US) per day in production value, how much does each get paid per day?  Answer:  Maquila workers  typically begin at the national minimum daily salary, which is a little over $6.00 per day, and might typically go up to $12.00 or $15.00.  Labor costs are low, and the quality of the labor is high.

Negotiations over all of this are continuous and ongoing in Mexico City, Chihuahua, Juarez, and with the Maquila owners and managers.  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has not committed himself so far.  Bailout US-style?  How much for the workers?  How much and on what terms for the owners?  The stakes are high and will affect the daily lives of the 1.3 million persons now living in Cd. Juarez, just down the Rio Grande 45 minutes by freeway from Las Cruces.