Gypsy Jan - 2-21-2012 at 03:28 PM
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/20/creating-enduring...
TIJUANA — "After their gazes first met the on the factory floor, it didn’t take long for Marisol Reyes and Francisco Ayala to fall in love. More than
a year later, when it came time for marriage vows, the young maquiladora workers didn’t stray far from their respective work stations.
Along with 27 other couples, the two Plantronics Mexico employees were joined in matrimony Friday inside the company cafeteria. There were
decorations, white cupcakes, encouraging words from the top boss and an overflow crowd of family members and co-workers to cheer them on.
The wedding ceremonies, held each February at the Tijuana plant since 2002, are part of the company’s ongoing campaign to motivate its staff of more
than 2,000 employees. Workers also can register for on-site parenting classes, earn high school diplomas, get their eyesight checked, and change their
cars’ license plates without leaving the company’s sprawling facilities near the Otay Mesa border crossing.
“If we solve problems for them, guess what? They’re going to solve problems for us. They become creative, they get very engaged with the company,”
said Alejandro Bustamante, president of Plantronics Mexico, which produces telephone headsets and other electronic products for the U.S. market. Its
parent company is headquartered in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Of more than 560 maquiladoras in Tijuana, only a handful offer a range of workplace benefits that reach beyond the factory floor, and few — if any —
can match those offered to Plantronics workers.
Low wages a challenge
Across town in El Florido Industrial Park, another large U.S.-owned maquiladora, DJ Orthopedics de Mexico, has been striving to motivate employees
with a wide range of programs. These include an employee talent contest and an employee wedding program.
The companies said such practices have helped create a loyal and resourceful workforce, a challenge for the city’s maquiladora industry. Low factory
wages — about 800 pesos a week for entry-level workers, slightly more than $62 at current exchange rates — have historically led to high turnover
rates, though the economic downturn has in recent years kept those numbers down.
In contrast with Matamoros, a city across the Texas border where labor unions negotiate maquiladora working conditions through collective bargaining,
the trend in Tijuana’s factories has been a relationship forged directly between workers and the executive teams that run the maquiladoras, said
Cirila Quintero, a Matamoros-based sociologist with Colegio de la Frontera Norte who studies the industry.
‘Culture of the big family’
Quintero said Japanese maquiladoras first brought the model to Tijuana in the 1980s. “It’s the culture of the big family,” she said, where workers are
called associates.
Practices such as sports competitions, holiday parties, company anniversary picnics and beauty contests have helped “ensure there are no conflicts,”
said Quintero, who conducted a study in the 1990s in Tijuana and found “the workers liked it, they felt appreciated.”
At DJ Orthopedics, the Tijuana subsidiary of Vista-based DJO Global, the 2,100-employee company has been motivating workers through programs that
Eduardo Salcedo, the vice president of Mexico operations, calls “thinking from the fence out.”
“How can we reach out and touch their personal lives outside the facility?” Salcedo said. “You’re looking at them beyond the sewing machine, beyond
the molding equipment. The weddings are one element of a bigger strategy. … It turns into productivity and affects the bottom line.”
Markets and arts
Though most don’t go quite as far as offering wedding ceremonies, other companies have been striving to meet their workers’ personal needs, said Norma
Yael Lomelí, president of the Tijuana Maquiladora Industry Association. A few, including DJ Orthopedics, have arranged for weekly outdoor markets near
the plants and negotiate with vendors for low prices, she said.
The markets not only save money for the workers, but they “give them more time to spend with their families,” Lomelí said. “This improves their
quality of life.”
In that vein, the maquiladora association joined forces with Tijuana’s Municipal Institute of Art and Culture, this month launching a program called
MaquilArte that brings, dance, art exhibits, musical performances and literature readings directly to the factory workers. One of the first
beneficiaries has been Plantronics, where the Baja California Orchestra performed Monday.
Bustamante said he came up with the idea of offering weddings at Plantronics more than a decade ago. The company arranges and pays for everything,
including filling out the municipal marriage license application, obtaining a doctor’s certificate, bringing a judge to perform the ceremony and
decorating the cafeteria. By taking care of such details for staffers, “they can focus and be more productive,” Bustamante said.
Among the Plantronics employees taking marriage vows last week was Ruth Martínez, a 38-year-old mother of four who has worked at the company for
nearly seven years. She had lived with her 34-year-old partner, who works at a different maquiladora, for the past 13 years, but had been reluctant to
commit. “I always thought, ‘If things don’t work out, I can pull out,’ ” she said.
Lessons learned on the job helped lead to a change of heart. “The company stresses workplace and personal values, and one of those is marriage,”
Martínez said. “That is what motivates me to take this important decision.”
Motivating workers
Maquiladoras in Tijuana traditionally have provided incentive programs aimed at promoting workplace morale, such as parties, picnics, sports
competitions and beauty contests. Plantronics Mexico and DJ Orthopedics de Mexico are two companies that have taken this a step further, offering an
array of opportunities including:
Plantronics Mexico: On-site programs include arranging every aspect of an annual wedding day for employees, parenting classes, giving workers the
chance to earn their high school diplomas and offering eye exams.
DJ Orthopedics de Mexico: Benefits include weddings, on-site schooling, a talent contest, lunchtime karaoke, arranging for an outdoor market near the
company and delivering workers’ utility-bill payments to the required sites so they don’t have to leave the company campus.
In addition: The Tijuana Maquiladora Industry Association has partnered with Tijuana’s Municipal Institute of Art and Culture to bring various events
to factories."
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[Edited on 2-21-2012 by Gypsy Jan]