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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2006 
U.S. Firms Urge Mexicans Not to Boycott
 Julie Watson - Associated Press
| | Two couples eat at a Burger King in Mexico City, Mexico. Immigrant groups in the United States are calling on their countrymen in Mexico to boycott U.S. products and businesses on May 1 to pressure the U.S. Congress to approve citizenship for undocumented migrants. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Mexico City - The call is moving quickly through Mexican cyberspace: Boycott the endless array of U.S. companies and restaurant chains in Mexico to pressure the U.S. Congress to legalize undocumented migrants in El Norte.
But American executives say the attack is misguided: As the largest private-sector employer in Mexico, the U.S. business community is doing more than anyone to provide much-needed jobs - and is also among the strongest supporters of immigration reform.
"We're in the same boat," Larry Rubin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, said Wednesday, referring to businesses and immigrant advocates. "Punishing businesses won't gain anything."
A quarter of Mexico's formal private-sector jobs with regular pay are provided by U.S. firms, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico. The nation's biggest private employer is Walmex - the Mexican subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. - which employs 140,000 people. Delphi Corp., the auto parts maker, is second with 70,000 workers.
And business leaders say the U.S. business community is one of the strongest supporters of legalization or guest-worker programs.
"This (boycott) is like shooting oneself in the foot," Rubin said earlier. "U.S. companies have been the first to lobby, launching a huge lobbying effort for immigration reform. ... Why hurt something that is helping you?"
Under the motto "Nothing Gringo," the Mexican boycott urges people to shun all products from U.S. businesses on May 1, a sort of "Day Without Americans," timed to coincide with the "Day Without Immigrants" boycott planned by activists north of the border.
"That means no Dunkin' Donuts, no McDonald's, Burger King, Starbucks, Sears, Krispy Kreme or Wal-Mart," reads one e-mail making the rounds.
But even the activists are confused about which companies are U.S.-owned. Sears has been mentioned by boycott organizers, despite the fact that Sears' Mexico stores were bought by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim in 1997. And few organizers are mentioning Vips - the chain of ubiquitous Mexican diners - even though they are owned by Wal-Mart.
Many activists in the United States are telling people to skip work and school and not spend money on May 1 to demonstrate the migrants' importance to the U.S. economy as Congress debates everything from tightening border security to offering legalization for some of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants.
It remains to be seen how successful the boycott will be in Mexico, where consumers flock to U.S. stores. May 1 is Labor Day in Mexico, and many businesses are closed anyway.
Mexican labor activists are pressing ahead, saying that in most cases, the wages paid by U.S. companies aren't enough to keep people from heading north.
The American Chamber's Humberto Banuelos conceded that starting salaries for unskilled workers at U.S. companies usually are Mexico's minimum wage of $4.35 a day. While many workers earn more, such as seamstresses who on average make $5.89 a day - even these wages pale in comparison to paychecks offered by the same companies north of the border.
A cashier at Subway (or "sandwich artist," as the company refers to them) earns about $189 a month in Mexico City. In Colorado, Subway cashiers make four times that - $824.
Companies also often hire workers for three-month periods to avoid paying health insurance or other benefits, activists say.
"Yes, we are aware that they are the largest employers in the Mexican republic, but they are paying crumbs," said Martha Suarez Cantu, coordinator of Alianza Braceroproa, a Mexican labor-rights group helping organize the boycott.
If the U.S. business community and Washington are serious about stemming illegal immigration, they should invest in economic development in Mexico, Suarez said.
The only way to stem immigration is to narrow the income gap between the two countries, agreed Robert Pastor, director of the Center for North American Studies at American University in Washington. He pointed to the European Union, where migration slowed after heavy investment reduced the income gap in its poorer countries.
Washington does not invest directly in job creation in Mexico. The U.S. Agency for International Development gave Mexico $31 million last year, but it went toward scholarships, tuberculosis and AIDS prevention, and providing financial advice to lending institutions.
Felix Boni, director of equity research at Scotiabank's Mexican brokerage firm, said raising wages in Mexico wouldn't necessarily help, because Mexico would lose ground to countries with cheaper labor, such as China and India. He suggested reforms to boost Mexico's productivity and job growth.
"U.S. aid is not going to do it," Boni said. "It doesn't make sense to pour money into something that's broken. Mexico needs to make structural changes." |
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