CAFOD backs report on electronics companies' Mexican labor practices

Published: 2008-02-08

LONDON (CNS) -- The British bishops' Catholic Agency for Overseas Development has endorsed a report accusing some of the world's best-known electronics companies of exploiting poor workers in Mexico. The report, compiled by Mexico's Center for Reflection and Action on Labor Issues, told of more than 230 cases of alleged abuse in interviews with 2,000 people who worked for companies such as Hitachi, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Philips, Dell, Motorola, Foxconn, Lenovo and Intel. "Electronics Multinationals and Labor Rights in Mexico," released Feb. 8, includes accusations that health and safety procedures are ignored or are nonexistent. Workers who earn an average of $9.50 a day were forced to stand for 12-hour shifts, and one woman, six months into her pregnancy, was made to stand for seven hours. Some workers said they are exposed continually to toxic materials while others have been forced to work on defective machinery, which in one instance led to a female worker having both hands severed.

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