GGR221H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Lexmark, Economic Geography, Bracero Program
24 Sep 2017
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Document Summary
Mexican workers are fired from a mexican factory on the mexico-texas border. They say they were terminated because they were trying to form an independent union. Also, pools of low-skilled workers compete for manufacturing jobs aid in the disparity: the lexmark workers decided to try and form a union because they wanted better working conditions. Workers often to steal electricity and water because they can"t afford it. Initially, the company orally said that they would give worker a raise but reneged on that. When lexmark was asked about their side, they asked for the question to be sent written and declined to answer most of them: lexmark may have felt squeezed by falling profits so they couldn"t oblige to their promise. They are protection contracts, collective-bargaining contracts signed between an employer and an employer- backed union, often without the knowledge of the workers. Only 1 percent of mexican workforce in organized in independent unions.
