SOCIOLOGY IN THE XXI CENTURY

OVERVIEW OF INFORMAL WORKING IN MEXICO

Marco Augusto Reyes Pacheco Celia Gómez Solórzano Research professors at the Uni
versidad Autónoma Metropolitana Xochimilco Department of Social Relations Resear
ch Area Labour Studies
Introduction
Informal work now occupies a significant place as a form of job placement for mi
llions of workers in Mexico who can not opt for jobs with better conditions. Thi
s paper aims to outline the conditions of informal employment in Mexico City. Th
e study is based on a series of empirical investigations that were carried out i
n recent years. Field work has been strengthened by contributions from the discu
ssion that has been conducted over several meetings between academic researchers
, authorities and leaders of the workers themselves. In the first part presents
description Handle and testimonies of various situations of informality in Mexic
o City. The second part presents the discussion of the characteristics of inform
al work and status.
1 - The Phenomenon
In Mexico City thousands of people wandering by many different work activities i
n the streets, other thousands are in fixed street selling all sorts of items, s
ome contraband, some stolen, some produced in artisan workshops, maquiladoras cl
andestine or household articles by thousands of workers. Some of these individua
ls sell their own body. Among all workers, children, men, women and seniors, it
forms a fine division of labor that includes literally thousands of lines of pro
duction and services. The activities of the vast
Most of these individuals (if not, somehow, in all) are part of national recover
y long chains (or supply chains) that are intertwined with international network
s of major production centers worldwide. What they have in common the activities
of all these thousands of individuals, and that distinguishes them from the wor
k of others, is usually performed for own account outside the legal framework, '
formal', which govern the activities of the 'dependent workers' or 'business est
ablishments' as defined by law. In the situation of 'small employers' which may
be constituted, with up to 10 to 15 workers, it is estimated that in reality the
'now' that stays within those limits fails to accumulate capital and reproduced
, but remains the level of mere subsistence. And in the case where the 'Company'
comes to legalized labor relations does not assume the character of work 'depen
dent' that 'formalized'. Moreover, on one side, the border between self-employme
nt is not finalized and formalized dependent work is very blurry and on the othe
r hand, individuals on either side of that border crossing continuously. A commo
n feature of informal workers is that the majority has its own organization to d
efend their interests. Almost all have been trained in dealing with autoridads,
and many function as mutual funds or mutual aid societies, in the absence or low
efficiency of social security. In the competition for places, organizations ser
ve to protect social spaces conquered by the group. The confrontation can achiev
e a high level of violence, and the government has come to use the police and ar
my to suppress them. Interestingly, trade organizations on public roads are usua
lly addressed by women1, but not so reduces the potential for violence.
The urban leadership prototype popular trade was represented by Guillermina Rico
, considered the most powerful woman leader in the street trade. Other names in
the middle are the Alejandra Barrios Richard, leader of the Legitimate Business
Civic Association Alejandra Barrios, Silvia Sanchez Rico, daughter of the late W
ilhelmina Civic Union Commercial AC Merced Antigua and Malena Acuña, Civic Union
of the Centre street traders and Chapultepec. There are also other women leader
s as Guadalupe Duarte, Trade Unifying Front in Mexico Guadalupe Duarte, AC you h
ave some control in La Merced, Teresa Lopez Salas, of the National Union of Trad
ers and semi-fixed, Gloria Gonzalez of the National Association of Blind Melchor
Ocampo AC and Guadalupe Renteria, non-Vendors Union Employees of the Alameda Ce
ntral. (Domínguez, 2006)
1
Descriptions and witnesses
Shoe cleaners 'Rodrigo' before working as a Ford factory worker.€In one of sever
al waves of restructuring was fired and lost his job. He could not get another,
mostly because of his age. He contacted a 'boleros' (cleaners of footwear) which
offered to present the leader. This he proposed 'rent' the fixed one of the oth
er cleaners that I was not working. Next to the rental office, Rodrigo had to pa
y a small fee to the organization. I agreed because 'boleando' a few hours a day
achieved a net income of 100 pesos. Now you have your own place. Join the organ
ization will benefit in many ways, but involves certain obligations such as atte
nding the acts to which the leader has pledged. Most of his colleagues are male
(95%) and are part of one of the two or three large organizations that exist in
Mexico City, although there are many boleros for self who refuse to join any org
anization. The latter are usually boleros street, which exist alongside fixed an
d semi-fixed. The fixed have their permanent positions in a corner, a park, etc.
and semi-fixed the need to raise at the end of the day. Apart from what we can
bag the leader, the organization shares are used to maintain medical and dental,
pharmacy and dining room. The activity of these 'boleros' is not totally out of
legal frameworks for many years the secretariat of the work of city government
negotiated with the organization to grant a permit which can work without harass
ment from police and other officials. Now that is accustomed to working bolero,
Rodrigo you prefer to work 'formal' because it has no pattern or fixed time sche
dule and your income is not much lower than that obtained as "dependent worker"
at Ford. Some sex workers sex workers work in legal establishments have signed c
ontracts and receive wages. This is the case of women workers in the Table Dance
, which paid 500 to 1000 pesos per day for three appearances in the show. Outsid
e of this contractual commitment, the girls are arranged privately with clients.
The girl interviewed said that so you can earn up to 6,000 pesos a night. These
workers are rotated between towns, remaining fixed seasons in each location. Em
ployers pay the airfare. The girl says she likes the job,
although it is exhausting and understands that it is very temporary, depending o
n the damage inherent in this activity. The contracts are temporary and do not g
uarantee social security. The company is formal, but if you sign a contract, are
informal relationships, especially those established with the client in private
. Other self-employed. Mary is a sex worker 'independent'. A group of women and
hombres2 who did sex work on the streets decided to organize against exploitatio
n and violence of 'madam' and 'pimps' and harassment from the authorities that a
re subject to all the 'prostitutes' in the city. The organization 'independent s
ex workers' struggle for dignity and legalize their activity and to defend thems
elves against exploitation and violence by gangs of business, authorities and cu
stomers. These individuals are considered employees because, like other workers,
sell the attributes of your body (like models) and activity (as any worker). Ma
ry tells us: "According to the laws of the country, no person shall be denied th
e profession you want if permissible. We (women and men in sex work) we are aski
ng for our entry-employed non-employee @ s @ s. We are subject to extortion, exp
loitation, repression by the mafia, by the authorities. A world of pimps and mad
am. Judges and lawyers are corrupt. There is a whole chain of exploitation, from
taxi drivers to sell us food "(Anonymous, 2005) Axel:" Why I work in sex work?
I went on this, first for pleasure then by necessity. I tried to work in factori
es and other work, but suffered discrimination. Furthermore, it wanted to give m
y work, submitting to malgeniudos patterns for 60 hours. That is not life. Sex w
ork gives me freedom, I decide. " For many sex workers life is not easy. Most wo
rk on the street because there is no alternative. His income barely enough to su
pport their families, are victims of social harassment, corruption and have to m
aintain a double standard because it is not easy to discover the family or to so
ciety. According to government officials in the city, in the current regulations
there are two obstacles to include sex workers and non-employees.€One is health
and the other moral. Although efforts were made, the badging is facing power re
lations in this sector has strong interests. They admit that some people
According to several sources, most men are engaged in sex work in the streets of
the city.
2
performs this activity for fun, but in most cases there is an overexploitation o
f single mothers, children, homosexuals and others. Handcraft From classical soc
ial theories of the nineteenth century, conceived the handicraft worker, owner o
f much of their production conditions and teacher who dominates their working to
ols, carries out the entire process of product development work . With the devel
opment of trade and the division of labor, the artisan loses control over their
working conditions, their tools, and becomes dependent worker in workers in wage
and thereby loses its worldview craftsman. On the streets, parks and plazas of
Mexico City today there are many manifestations of artisan work, however, are tr
apped in the contemporary phenomenon of informal employment. Remain self-employe
d activities of at least some control over the instrument of work, but can not a
void being registered, or in chains or capital appreciation in subsistence activ
ities, in many cases, fail to reproduce the minimum life of the working family.
In this situation there are thousands of indigenous workers (the Marías3) transi
ting the city, some seasonally, others permanently, selling ethnic crafts they m
ake themselves in their places of origin or in their neighborhood (they live in
crowded sheds entire families). These artisans complain that the entry of foreig
n products (especially China), many of which are copies of the Mexicans, threate
ns their productive activity and tends to reduce them to mere vendors. Another t
ype of informal artisan constituent youth make and sell handicrafts' modern '(ow
n design), the musicians who make their gigs in the squares, parks and streets o
f the city, Merola, clowns doing their' performances 'in public. Many of these a
rtists have long existed. This is the case of the 'grinder' who have spent decad
es playing their German-made cylinders, or 'middens' inspiration performing ethn
ic dances and ritual and whose organization, it is said, comes from the Colony,
the sixteenth century.
Originally this name was given to indigenous Mazahuas (coming from the State of
Mexico) who sold their crafts in the squares and streets of Mexico City. With th
e arrival of many other ethnic groups, has been generalized to all indigenous wo
man who traded in public.
3
These workers have a lot of conflict between his art and work. On the one hand,
these artisans are considered more informal cultural resistance, consider that t
he craft is to remain informal, to remain an artistic expression, and refuse to
join the formal work to keep their worldview. Moreover, its activity is graduall
y reduced to a mere subsistence work at the same time, it is increasingly degrad
ed and is insufficient to survive, given the process of informality that is subj
ected. They argue that the government has to give much support "because we are p
romoting our culture." For them, work 'informal' has always existed, the new wor
k is 'formal'. The authorities, meanwhile, also suggest that workers in this sec
tor there are relations of power and corruption. Many were granted credentials t
o protect them, but there is misuse them, we try to organize unions but it appea
rs that hinders individualism emerging projects and intermediaries who take adva
ntage of the situation. Vagoneros The Metro is not only the most important trans
portation system in the city. It is a world apart, a society itself in which the
interrelation million people and in which thousands, including the operators of
the system, allowed herdsmen and workers' informales'4. Subway users carry not
only him, but that walk, eat there and eat a wide variety of products. Being a h
uge shopping center in all its lines and stations, attracts a large number of ve
ndors. A type of street vendors located in all subway lines are 'vagoneros', str
eet vendors who move from car to car hawking their products, moving in packed co
mmuter trains,€sometimes with blaring horns that sprout from the shrill sounds o
f the rhythms that sold in 'cidis'. The passengers, annoyed by the noise, do not
dare to complain and sometimes they buy something. Like most of the street vend
ors generally sell what is known as 'goodies', vagoneros cheap goods that can be
loaded easily into pockets or backpacks gum, candy, stationery, CDs, and miscel
laneous items.
4
Laredo Lopez, Gustavo (2004) The relationship of power and resistance. The subwa
y workers, Master Thesis, National School of Anthropology and History, Mexico
The following is the testimony of José Luis, an industry leader vagoneros: "We d
o not consider our work as 'informal', as do the authorities. If you do not want
workers 'informal' to give us work of others and get paid good salaries. The au
thorities want to resolve the problem metiéndonos in a place that costs us 15 to
20 thousand dollars. If I sell gum to a weight and I have to support the family
, what do you do? ". He complains that the Metro authorities have an ambiguous p
olicy. On the one hand, prohibit the legwork and posts that people tend semi in
the corridors, and only allow the fixed concession. But on the other hand, 'look
the other way' to the phenomenon of street vendors. This leads to the surveilla
nce system of the Metro system committed many abuses, sometimes suppressing and
expelling the workers, sometimes tolerate it for blackmail. Given the harassment
by the authorities, that offenders linked to victimize passengers (pickpockets
and other 'thieves'), the Organization created vagoneros December 12. Since cont
inuously suppress and put to prison, the organization has lawyers who seek to de
fend and secure their release. Fees paid by members of the organization are used
to pay lawyers and to keep the family of the prisoner while in jail. They have
a mutual box for disease and to pay fines. The organization even has a psycholog
ist to treat waste physical and moral individuals who come to them for help and
trabajo5. The present leaders report that before the organization had succeeded
in overthrowing corrupt leaders. Vagoneros charged the input up to 2000 pesos to
work and a hundred dollars a week. Some workers report that even today not all
contributions are dedicated to that and that members have to go to the rallies c
alled by the leaders. The profile encompasses vagonero single mothers, students,
some homosexuals and many children. One important group has always been a stree
t vendor. They earn on average about 50 pesos a day, outside expenses. Ayateros
Guadalupe is one of the leaders of this unique group of 'informal', midway betwe
en artisans and vendors. You can see in the streets of the city
Testimony of José Luis Bastida (2005), leader of the Union of Vagoneros December
12, 1st Informal Working Meeting, Mexico City, Mexico
5
Mexico pushing little carts that carry the 'junk' (what is old or damaged) that
buy, fix up and resell them in their stalls. This is a job, now informal, dating
back to times long ago. The 'Ayat' is a special basket delivered to the person
who sold them the object and then left hook from the window for the pick up the
ayatero. Guadalupe says: "We take the garbage from the streets, rescued true wor
ks of art (people sometimes do not know what strip). They come to our place 'coy
otes' (specialists) in past and present toys, books, art, etcetera. " He relates
that once depended on a leader who was selling the sites. There was a lot of co
rruption to the authorities, the Delegation discriminated against. At that, form
ed the Union of Non-wage earners with handcarts. Today, the sites are purchased
(paid to the authorities), but these officials are protecting more to some than
to others. Guadalupe: "We are about 85 people. We deal with a regulation and in
an area, we are semi-fixed. We are a tiny complex society. We buy each other foo
d, juices ... demand scholarships for the children, decent housing, and dignify
our work. " Flea markets and street vendors 'Tianguis', the tianquiztli Nahuatl
is the name of 'markets' in which, by barter or primitive forms of money, Prehis
panic exchanged the agricultural products or manufactured in the communities. Th
e most famous were at Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco in Mexico City.€In a process o
f perpetual change according to the level of development of capitalism, these 's
ubsistence markets' remain as a popular and spontaneous exchange. In fact, there
is a tendency for the historic center of Mexico City becomes a giant flea marke
t, with the proliferation of thousands of posts in all streets surrounding the P
residential Palace and Zocalo (main square). In the city, but also in the rest o
f the country, there are all sorts of flea markets: some are huge, such as the I
ztapalapa (a populous suburb of the city), or the historic center of San Felipe
de Jesus, north of Mexico City, which is says is the world's largest flea market
, and others, well known for the poor inhabitants of the city. Others are middle
-street markets are held in other public places in the city and, finally, there
are small street markets scattered throughout the city, some of which are perman
ent and other circulating, which are placed and removed on days
fixed week, first in a neighborhood and then in another. Now it is common to the
sale of products imported mainly from China that simulate or replace the crafts
or products made in Mexico. Piracy, smuggling and trafficking in stolen goods i
s such that you get to identify with the underground economy tianguis in permane
nt conflict with formal businesses with which it competes advantageously by low
prices. Tianguis are also the repository of all products manufactured in the tho
usands of sweatshops in the city and the conurbation. The flea most famous city
is Tepito6 where you can buy the goods more sophisticated, from watches, CDs, de
signer clothes, perfumes, to electronic devices of all brands (TV's, stereos, di
gital camcorder, DVD players, and cell phones), software and computers. Of cours
e, the quality is varied, depending on whether the product is pirated, smuggled,
stolen or imported from the Asian maquiladoras (sometimes not good quality). In
older residential area in the prevailing popular neighborhood (tenement), Tepit
o has become an extensive network of warehouses of products are sold not only he
re but throughout the city. The current explosion of the phenomenon of street ma
rkets, along with the rest of informality began around 1980 to break the develop
ment of industry and agriculture in the country. Since the middle of last centur
y, the government has tried to 'formalize' the flea market, building large marke
ts closed that house hundreds of puestos7. The phenomenon of these frameworks ti
anguización soon overflows around the market and 'institutional' is full of new
stalls. A small flea market in the south of the city. The flea market was formed
40 years ago when the PRI, on the campaign trail, he promised a group of street
permits for positions in the street on the condition that vote for him. The sel
lers are self-employed and independent in terms of work organization. It is trad
ing at a low level, and many sell goods produced by foreign capital. Workers hav
e low education and many do not know their rights. The tianguistas live well,
The anthropological study fictionalized Oscar Lewis, The Children of Sanchez, is
a description of life in Tepito before it became the huge flea market is now. 7
"The experience was from 1952 to 1966 in which the city built more than 150 mar
kets to accommodate the 35 000 street vendors who were in town at that time. How
ever, the lack of this policy caused the ambulantaje back to their historical le
vels ... including the huge markets of La Merced, Lagunilla and Tepito. "(Cross,
1993)
6
but prefer to work day and formal the improved security and benefits, if any wor
k. They do not pay taxes and your income is over the minimum wage, but must pay
their own medical expenses. They have an organization that represents them to th
e authorities to which the leaders come to collect up to 1000 pesos per day per
seat. Being thousands of jobs in some of the flea market, those shares become a
real source of wealth for the few Mafia leaders who protect their interests with
thugs and causes the wars between gangs and the police trying to dismantle, mos
tly for political reasons, patronage. The network of corruption reached the high
est levels of government. However, the flea market is only one form of street tr
ading, or rather, street. Because, like other expressions of informal labor€trad
e on the street comes in three forms: fixed, semi-fixed and mobile. The flea mar
ket is fixed or semi-fixed, depending on whether a cluster of entrenched positio
ns, or to be assembled and disassembled regularly. Another case is really street
vendors, meaning that they have no jobs because they roam the city streets sell
ing their products or putting their 'drying'. The cruise passengers 'cruise', se
mi-fijos8 workers who sell items on cruises of broad avenues, building cars that
stop when the lights high marks are of two types. An example of the first type
is Elena '(the girl Telcel). She is an employee, 'formal' in the sense that it i
s used by a telephone company (Telmex) to sell phone cards on cruises of the cit
y. It can be seen actively selling the cards when cars are stopped at the red li
ght and rest a moment when the light turns green. Is assigned a cruiser, which c
an not leave because the business program at an army of hundreds of workers thro
ughout the city selling the cards. The company exerts some regulation to ensure
compliance with a minimum time. Although employed by Telmex and use a kind of un
iform with the company logo that distinguishes these workers do not sign any con
tract and no
Cunjama et al point out that these workers are semi-fixed because, although they
do not have jobs because they sell moving between cars, they do have certain ar
eas set before hand where they can work.
8
have benefits. In this type of work predominantly young, some students, but ther
e is everything. They are paid by commission and for a few hours of daily work,
reach an income of 140 dollars per day, higher than the minimum wage. According
to Elena, the work is intense and are a danger because they have to walk 'bullfi
ghting' cars. "We want another job, but what options are there?". There are many
varieties of the first type, according to the company that hires but the condit
ions do not vary much. The second type of cruise is that of self. They also tend
to stay fixed on a cruise not to lose his place before the big competition for
spaces. After all, the earnings of the hawkers are 2-4 times higher than the min
imum wage and that generates a lot of demand for cruises. These cruises also on
average earn $ 140 daily, although, like its predecessors, have to take charge o
f their own social security (medical expenses, raise money for their old age, ho
using, etc.).. However, interviews can be seen that in some measure they prefer
rather than confront the exploitation of a pattern not even let them think what
they want. (Cunjama et al, 2005). The working day varies individually, but the a
verage hours worked is 7-8 hours per day, slightly less than the working day job
s formales9. Unlike cruisers dependent, self-manage their time as best suits the
m, not give anybody few and for this reason some crucerisatas chose this type of
activity. Among the cruise there was not any type of organization, each vendor
ensures its security and defend their personal space, you pay nothing to be esta
blished in the cruise and is free to operate as it wishes (this is the case for
self-sellers .) In any case, it creates a right to be there that others respect,
taking care not to fill the cruise sellers. In the case of cruisers dependent,
it is assumed that the company protects
The legal day adult day is 8 hours but, violating the law, "extends far without
additional payment. Many workers are employed part-time, hourly, etc.. In this c
ase, to obtain an income to survive, must be employed in various positions and a
lso common in the first case, have to work several members of the family.
9
MAIN REASONS decided to work on cruise ships. Percentage Ditribución
Increased income
4.29
Lower working hours
6.17
He found another job no worker-employer relationship
r 23.5a
17.64
Tires less 0 5
7.11
October 1915
P OR C IN J TA ES
20
25
30
Source: Maquila Cunjama The world of illegal underground maquila is very complex
, beginning with the name. The word maquiladora comes from medieval Spain and de
scribes the situation where a farmer pays the miller grinding their wheat with s
ome of the flour obtained. In Mexico, is understood to produce a third (manufact
uring) part of the production process.€It has always been a small workshop maqui
la some processes to a large factory because usually cheaper maquiladora factory
producing it internally. Today the word is still used to describe this case, bu
t has expanded to include large plants in northern Mexico that maquilas to corpo
rations. Having the same economic mobility, the transnational corporation moved
to Mexico more manuales10 processes that made in the Mexican maquiladora, are on
e-tenth of the cost would be incurred if there is internal to the U.S. company (
Gomez, 2003). The situation has evolved and, today, sent maquiladoras own parts
of internal production process for maquiladoras in rural and urban small worksho
ps that
10
Froebel (1980) describes in detail the various mechanisms through which companie
s manualized industrial processes, for export to third world countries and explo
it cheap labor.
surround with the same phone to cut costs (H. Juárez, 2005). An example is the l
arge maquiladora garment factory that uses the home farm labor in the region for
that thing to the shirt sleeves. The misery of the families in which many membe
rs have migrated north, forcing the mother, small children and grandmothers to m
ake these stressful tasks at a fraction of the cost of the large maquiladora do
so herself. The term maquiladora is mixed well with the house work and the under
ground workshop, ie the one hand, with the famous putting-out system that predat
es the era industrial11, but on the other hand, by refunctionalized capital valo
rization chains. The European domestic industry during the centuries before manu
facturing and industrial mode of production was primarily a rural character, whi
le the current workshops are more urban or suburban in character. Modern apparel
domestic industry has the following aspects: it develops and grows in times of
widespread economic crisis (high unemployment), generally located in highly popu
lated areas of large cities, which often is submerged in the underground , and i
n the vicinity of certain industrial zones or maquila, often in rural areas, hom
e to more easily exploited workers, intermediaries and employers prefer to newly
arrived immigrants from other regions, indigenous impoverished by lack of land
or equity and women, often single mothers who are the sole breadwinners. There a
re a number of men working in home workshops, but as foremen and laborers, and w
omen who perform the work more pesadas12. Women do not abandon their traditional
place in the family, to join the workshops, their own or of third parties. Many
women own their workshop are doing housework, or industrial work does not repla
ce but adds to the housework. The only ones left are the seamstresses these task
s successfully.
11
Maurice Dobb (1971) founded the predominance of this new industrial activity and
continued existence from two observations: a) without a fine technical division
of labor or machinery (to appear until the eighteenth century) was not yet usef
ul to many workers lock in the same workshop, b) was still very difficult at tha
t time to find "free" workers. Therefore, the domestic industry is the result of
a process of partial proletarianization. An important aspect of the home textil
e maquila in Mexico City is dominated women's presence but does not exclude the
cooperation of men, but their role, both within the formal and informal maquilas
, is mostly of address, such as foremen or patterns and the smallest part is ded
icated to working in the maquila (Guzmán, 2004)
12
There are many ways of working at home. One of the most important is that the la
rge maquiladora, or other large manufacturing company or convenience store (Wal-
Mart, Suburbia, Liverpool, Palacio de Hierro and Sears), directly subcontracted
to small workshops for the manufacture of clothing or other objects. Thus, the l
argest company saves on investment costs to manufacture various products, reduce
labor costs (salaries or benefits) and avoids many labor problems that arise as
attempts to organize, etcétera13. The second form is similar to putting-out sys
tem. The company outsources large parts of the production process only a large n
umber of small workshops and family. Sometimes€the manufacturing company, or an
intermediary, providing sewing machines and raw materials. In this system, the e
mployer seeking the involvement of several subcontractors or intermediaries, whi
ch are nothing more than mere contract employees whose salaries are also paid by
the piece (Guzmán, 2004). Another form of self-employed is that makes the cloth
es at the request of the major brands (or stores) or distributed on their own, s
ome in their own positions from street or streets of the city. Typically, these
informal establishments employ fewer workers, are on a reduced working capital a
nd lack of an adequate system of accounting. It falls short for some owners of b
ig factories that require the house sewing workshop to begin working that is off
icially registered (Avendano, 2005). An inevitable consequence for employers cha
ins whose last link is the home workshop is to stop making quality clothing to d
evote to producing cheap goods for the working classes (Avendano, 2005). On the
other hand, many over-exploited industrial workers get home workshops juicy prof
its that drives them to become empresarioscomerciantes rather focus their activi
ties on the marketing of products and are the major beneficiaries of the current
culture system at home. Others, thanks to outsourcing, they cease to be produce
rs of clothing and become exclusively on developers and vendors who merely
13
Small businesses organize production and avoid tying up their capital seeking to
minimize their fixed costs. The clothing manufacturers put their machines, and
assume local energy costs and maintenance (Guzman, 2004).
finance the entire production process, for which send the material already cut t
o the workshops (Avendano, 2005).
Workshop maquila 'formal' Xochitl works in a maquiladora formal14 type that are
manufactured light blouses and other garments, in some cases, the model makes th
e cut (skirt or dress). The 18 workers are working establishment, including the
manual operations performed to unravel, label, board and operating the machines,
some that are sewing. They occur from 2,000 to 2,500 pieces per day, or 10.000
to 15.000 pieces per week. Most of these workers had no knowledge of the activit
y that took place within the workshop, but there were taught. All merchandise is
delivered to the department stores. The workday is from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, a t
otal of 10 hours per worker because they come out to eat one hour, from 2:00 to
3:00 pm, some eat near the studio in a hotel, and others return to eat at their
homes nearby. The workshop is located in a populous district and the majority of
employees are local. The workers resort to this type of employment by their sta
tus as mothers, feel that the homework is the most convenient because it enables
them to earn an income and at the same time fulfill the duties of housewife. Th
e sewing machine does not replace or relieve the work of the worker, the contrar
y, accelerates the pace and increase the effort into simple tasks. Moreover, the
ability of an operator manual, indispensable for making garments, it is boring
to the worker because he has to fix attention on a continuous and prolonged. Eve
ryone thinks that this form of work eventually cause damage to health by the tim
e you are sitting, performing the same operations over long periods. The kidneys
may be harmed as the waist and joints, the view tires. The dust of the material
affects the airways, and not having a face mask to protect them from harm, but
say there is good ventilation in the room. Despite the heavy workload, the atmos
phere is pleasant (Guzmán, 2004). Another similar case is the formal workshop wh
ere the owner is an engineer who has hired about 11 people who produce garments
on demand for
14
In this case the workshop is 'formal' because it is inscribed in the register of
small businesses and pay taxes.
Wal-Mart, Comercial Mexicana and Suburbia (three large department stores or self
-service) days are works 8-9 hours a day, if the order is very big work overtime
. Paid a salary ranging from 700-1000 dollars per week, depending on the tasks p
erformed. Extra hours are paid separately. Not pay social insurance. If someone
does become ill it takes them to a private physician.
Maquila Mrs. Lola family home work at home informally. Manufactures dresses XV y
ears€First Communion and presentations for a lady (the 'owner') which has severa
l branches that sells clothes. To manufacture XV años dresses and first communio
n Lola gets the pieces already cut and work is to link them through the seams fo
r the machine which has a straight. In the case of clothing for presentations an
d first communions, takes about an hour to assemble and get 27 dollars for each
piece. In the other dressed takes about three hours and get 50 pesos per piece.
On average, he manages to produce finished parts 6-8 per day. These clothes are
then sold in approximately 400 pesos each in the four premises of the owner in L
a Lagunilla15. On the other hand, the owner of the premises does not require a g
reat effort and, not suffer the pressure, Lola works only for moments. This laxi
ty on the part of the owner is that Lola contributes only a minimal production.
The owner has another lady who, together with their families, produces between 2
0 and 30 dresses a day. This workshop house, not registered, you have several se
wing machines and the family of animated works all day. The owner has suppliers
that provide the fabric, not have to pay the electricity consumed by workers (in
this case, costing around $ 150), does not provide the yarn ($ 12), or needles
(80 c) and, for a long time, no pay increases for clothing. In none of the above
are paid social benefits of the law. These houses converted into small factorie
s do not take people in chronic poverty in which they live, only prolong the exi
stence miserable. No personal development of workers and cause premature aging,
many diseases because of the nature of the work performed, frustration, depressi
on and apathy. In addition, they generate a vicious circle in which children are
forced to
15
Tianguis major Mexico City.
replicate the situation of the parents. In many cases, the owner of the maquila
industry is in a sandwich situation, which also is one of the exploited.
2-Talk about the characteristics of the 'informal'
The issue of measuring the extent of informal work is much debated. What criteri
a should be used? Which sectors are covered? What is the nature of the phenomeno
n, which can grasp? Notwithstanding the term cloud in Mexico makes some estimate
s (many of them to score). According to Antonio Gutiérrez Castro CENPRO (2005),
the market turn to the economies of developing countries, informal work has beco
me explosive. Computed as the dimension of the phenomenon in these countries, fo
llowing the ILO information: Percentage of the working farm or urban informal wo
rk is devoted to Africa, Latin America 80% Asia -60% 60% 40
Tello (2005) argues that polls your organización16, the situation is as follows:
PEA 42 million
Formal job 14 million
Informal work 8 million
Adding workers considered informal workers who work in large maquiladoras, domes
tic workers and child labor is estimated that the ratio of 5-1 between formal an
d informal workers. Mr. Emilio Fernandez, Deputy City Legislative Assembly and m
ember of the Labour Commission of that body, in its submission to the 1st Meetin
g of informal work conducted in Mexico City in 2005, makes the following calcula
tion:
PEA 43 million
Unemployment 1.9 million
Informal 26 million
Without income 2 million
Migrants 400.000
16
The National Organization of People's Power groups in its midst a large number o
f casual farm worker
Notes that the extension of informal work is such that even has become a common
practice in the Government of Mexico City, where one of its forms is voluntary s
ervice. For its part, in a newspaper reciente17, federal Deputy Salvador Barajas
del Toro, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Chairman of the Centr
e for Social Research and Public Opinion in the House of Representatives found t
hat "illegal trade Mexico represents assets of 597 billion dollars, a figure tha
t is nine times the 2005 total international reserves, and three times the forei
gn direct investment in the period 1979-2003. " Affirms that the National Associ
ation of Supermarkets and Department Stores (ANTAD) reported that in 2005, 30 pe
rcent of the clothes bought were purchased in markets, flea markets and informal
 trading. Master Augustine Porras, a demographer and professor of the Department
of Social Relations, in his presentation at the 1st Meeting on Informal Work, s
ays, however,€that the only really well-founded concept that appears in national
polls, is the self-employed. The question being asked is how does the responden
t argues? And the answer that is used as an indicator of informality is "self."
Following this criterion, the calculation is as follows.
Informal sector as% of national PEA PEA 40 million Porras, 2005 about this inves
tigator that capitalism in the country has developed so geographically polarized
since the 1940s, in a capitalist north and developing south for decades has cau
sed a migration poorer areas to more developed areas. It shows that the correlat
ion between own-account workers, migration and marginalization is high. Presents
the following examples of the 1990s: Informal Sector 11 million on the street (
25%).
17
http://noticias.prodigy.msn.com/nacional/articulo.aspx?cp-documentid=5052402 250
607
Self-employed workers in less desarrolladas18 (approximate order of development)
Chiapas-Oaxaca-40% 39% 32% Guerrero Aguascalientes-15% B. California-14% Porras
, 2005 The activities and informal meet the following characteristics, according
to the MSc. Porras: the organization is typical of the micro, not pay taxes, is
outside the corporate hierarchy, the patterns, when available, do not conclude
contracts with their workers do not pay benefits or social security and are out
of credit programs . The self-employed income may vary between 50 and 200 pesos
per day. In general, these revenues are to survive, but not distance themselves
too far from what a worker earns formal means. Octavio Maza (2006) made a series
of studies it appears that for this worker what matters most is the level of in
come and not whether the work is' formal 'or' informal 'and, on the' formality a
t all If you are concerned it is the opportunity to access social benefits.
4 - The issue of regulations
If in terms of measurement, informal work is a fuzzy concept, with regard to reg
ulation the situation is equally complex. Making a "policy mapping" of labor law
, Mr. Reynoso (2006) offers three large blocks that are taking over the twentiet
h century: • In the 'formal' can establish the existence of an employment relati
onship protected constitutional rights and Federal Labor Law, both in the privat
e sector and government workers (the latter division does not exist in law posre
volucionaria19). • In an intermediate situation, begins to move away from labor
rights framework, although it is still within the legal thing: begin to generate
18
Among the states south of the country's highest concentration of indigenous popu
lation is very Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero. 19 It covers the period of the Mexi
can Revolution (1910-1917), in its democratic and republican phase.
called fees and other contracts that are no longer working within the frameworks
(exception is a chapter entitled Special Chapters). • Finally, with the sector
'informal' appears a stranger from the legal point of view: their 'own boss'. To
meet this new reality creates a whole series of regulations that attempt to cov
er (Law of Civic Culture, Regulation of Non-Government employees in the City (19
75) Reorganization Program of Public Roads, Public Entertainment Act , Seguro Po
pular (formerly Family Security Social Security). Reynoso says that for a lawyer
this last figure is very difficult to define. But even worse, and that creates
other problems, is the diversity of ways in which it presents micro- entrepreneu
rs, semi-employed, self-employed. Many legal scholars say the inconveniences of
the existing legal framework to address the problem of 'informality'. First, the
 fact that labor laws everywhere was to protect the "dependent worker '. Second,
because the work' non-dependent 'is not specifically covered by labor law becau
se, for many, appears as a figure of commercial or civil law. Then all the patch
es that were made to the original labor legal framework was deficient , inconsis
tent, and with great inclination towards corporatism (Miguel Cortez) 20. Miranda
(2006), meanwhile, says that whatever the form as it is called - 'informal econ
omy', 'informal work', 'precarious work '- is a violation of rights because ther
e is an employment relationship, even if invisible: no exploitation, there is a
relationship of subordination (not appear) reveals a world of unemployment, pove
rty, precarious;€reveals a world of completely unprotected workers, outside the
law. He says there is a gap between the norm and reality: the law states that ev
eryone has the right to decent work, socially useful and lawful, but in principl
e the 'informal' is out of standards. And he wonders "why has not addressed the
problem of the sector 'informal'? Because the work has been neglected in general
. " Finally, think you can not be just a legal matter, there must be a movement
of the workers themselves. Rose proposes an agenda whose main lines are shared w
ith the ONUOIT:
20
Miguel Cortés teacher intervention of the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfar
e, Government of the City, 2nd Meeting on Informal Labor, Mexico.
•
Create institutional arrangements, including legal support to the informal secto
r, tending to formalize it. CENPRO Castro Gutiérrez (2005) proposed the amendmen
t to the Federal Labour Act gives legal recognition to informal work
• • •
Include this sector in welfare systems and health. Make that meet certain obliga
tions, such control forms of reintegration Search within formal, constitutional,
employment relationship.
Final Words
This has been a quick trip and summarized some impressions about the phenomenon
of informality, as shown in Mexico, leaving out many issues that are of great in
terest, for example the discussion on the definition of 'informal'. Neither has
been able to show the complexity of forms in which it occurs or the connections
between the reality of work and other forms of activity, including artwork, coop
erative relations or community work, gender, nor forms of resistance to the mode
rn capitalist world that many see these demonstrations of human labor. The accum
ulated material is enormous and circulate large number of ideas to be examined.
It starts with a hypothesis, that the work called informal work is a form that h
istorically accompanies the capitalist mode of production. It is not an outside
to the reproduction of capital, but it is the centerpiece of the accumulation pr
ocess. The work in capitalist society found in these two forms of direct subordi
nation, as wage labor, and indirect subordination, in the figure of 'self employ
ed' or informal. Informal work, so understood, forms the floor that determines t
he magnitude of the wage. In the struggle between labor and capital, the weaknes
s of the formal sector thus stretching the informal sector. The growth of this s
ector of lower income leads to falling wages and labor condicidones to the level
of income and conditions of workers in the informal sector. As this sector can
continue to fall, wages may be drawn into ever lower levels. This is what the in
ternational unions called 'race to bottom'. What can stop this race to the botto
m? Only investment in the situation that caused it: altering the balance of powe
r between labor and capital.
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