Moure-Eraso R, Wilcox M, Punnett L, MacDonald L, Levenstein C
University of Massachusetts Lowell, Work Environment Program 01854, USA.
Am J Ind Med. 1997 May;31(5):587-99. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199705)31:5<587::aid-ajim14>3.0.co;2-v.
Present working conditions in one of the most active areas of the maquiladora system along the Mexico-U.S. border are reminiscent of nineteenth-century U.S. sweatshops. The organization of production is Tayloristic and authoritarian, with detailed division of labor, repetitive simple tasks, and piecework wages. Modern participative management styles are not apparent in the maquiladora setting. This study consists of two separate but interrelated surveys conducted in 1992, one of community leaders and this one of workers in maquiladora enterprises in the towns of Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico. The community survey evaluated the economic and psychosocial impact of the maquiladora enterprise and was conducted simultaneously to the workers' survey and in the same Mexican towns where the workers lived and worked. The community leaders acknowledged the employment opportunities that maquiladora factories had brought to the region but believed them to have high environmental and psychosocial costs. For the occupational component, a community-based survey of 267 maquiladora workers was conducted. participants were chosen with more than a year seniority in the industry and living in the two Mexican cities surveyed. They responded to an extensive questionnaire given by trained canvassers. The workers' survey found evidence that maquiladora workers (81% female) report symptoms from musculoskeletal disorders related to working conditions. Acute health effects compatible with chemical exposures were also identified. Prevalence of symptoms was correlated with increasing duration of exposure to ergonomic risk factors and qualitative chemical exposure indexes. Other chronic disease was not apparent. The survey demonstrated inequalities in salary, working hours, and safety training between the two communities. Matamoros workers are substantially better paid and work fewer hours per week than Reynosa workers. Most hazards reported in the worker's survey have been well studied in the general occupational health literature with respect to adverse health effects. Therefore, it is recommended that hazard surveillance studies would be more useful towards the goal of prevention than further etiologic studies. Specific recommendations on policy and remediation interventions are also made.
墨西哥与美国边境沿线加工出口区体系最活跃的地区之一，目前的工作条件让人想起19世纪美国的血汗工厂。生产组织是泰勒式的且具有独裁性，劳动分工细致，任务简单重复，实行计件工资制。在加工出口区环境中，现代参与式管理风格并不明显。本研究包括1992年进行的两项独立但相互关联的调查，一项针对社区领袖，另一项针对墨西哥马塔莫罗斯和雷诺萨镇加工出口企业的工人。社区调查评估了加工出口企业对经济和心理社会的影响，与工人调查同时进行，且在工人生活和工作的同一个墨西哥城镇开展。社区领袖承认加工出口工厂给该地区带来了就业机会，但认为这些工厂造成了高昂的环境和心理社会成本。对于职业部分，对267名加工出口区工人进行了基于社区的调查。参与者选择在该行业工作一年以上且居住在接受调查的两个墨西哥城市的工人。他们对经过培训的调查员提供的一份详尽问卷作出回应。工人调查发现有证据表明，加工出口区工人（81%为女性）报告了与工作条件相关的肌肉骨骼疾病症状。还确定了与化学物质接触相符的急性健康影响。症状的患病率与接触人体工程学风险因素和化学物质定性接触指数的时间延长相关。未发现其他慢性病。调查表明两个社区在薪资、工作时间和安全培训方面存在不平等。马塔莫罗斯的工人工资大幅高于雷诺萨的工人，且每周工作时间更少。工人调查中报告的大多数危害在一般职业健康文献中已就其对健康的不利影响进行过充分研究。因此，建议危害监测研究对于预防目标比进一步的病因学研究更有用。还就政策和补救干预措施提出了具体建议。
