[Work and health in the Mexican "maquiladora" industry: a dominant trend in dominated neoliberalism]

This paper discusses health and working conditions of workers in the export-oriented "maquiladora" industry in Mexico. The work is intensive and performed mostly by women. It is the country's second largest source of foreign exchange. The "maquiladora" industry illustrates the effect of neoliberalism on working and health conditions, unveiling the impact of overall flexibilization of labor and growing technological changes. The situation for risks and demands is complex. Taylorist demands persist in work organization, with multiple chemical risks and probable effects beyond the workplace. There are also demands from repetition strain and uncomfortable positions. Effects on workers' health include high morbidity rates as reflected by demands on the social health/welfare services, some two to four times greater than for other industrial workers. There is a high percentage of stress-related illnesses as the reason for medical consultation. There are also effects on workers' families. Low birthweight is 2.8 times higher in women who work in the "maquila" than in other labor groups. Work-related accidents are common, the second most frequent cause for medical consultation in some cases. The analysis identifies some of the tendencies in which workers' health could be important in coming years for large contingents of workers.