Presentation by Julia Quiñonez
On my side there is a group of maquiladora workers and they are crucial and characterize the organization. For us it is March 21st and we are celebrating Benito Juarez and the beginning of spring. Seasons are significant for us in this organization. There have been very difficult situations and we are hoping that with the coming of spring there will be change for the better. I would like to speak about the CFO. The CFO has been around for three decades and is a non profit organization. I would like to speak more about our programs. There are three programs: labor reform, gender, labor organization (unionization). I am not sure if you are familiar with labor reform that was approved in Mexico in 2019. It’s not enough that it was approved. Workers must know and be familiar with what this means for them. It’s important for women to empower themselves in regards to the gender program. Both labor reform and gender reform must work together to make a difference. The gender program members are encouraged to meet and learn about their rights and plan to improve their working conditions. At the federal level women must have gender equity. It’s important for women to know they aren’t just part of a quota that needs to be met by the employer. The third program works with factories that produce clothes for companies like: GAP, LEVIs, and Old Navy. CFO has worked with VU manufacturing workers. This campaign is involved on a federal level in both Mexico and the US. I’m going to elaborate on the violations of the company. There is a worker here to talk about it briefly. There has been a lot of fighting because of how state and local authorities have been acting towards the workers. I’d like to finish off by saying thank you for joining. I was not sure I would be joining this meeting. Among the individuals is respect and peace. We can not talk about peace when labor rights are being violated. If we want peace we must work towards gaining rights and justice. Thank You