Our Global Responsibility!

For two decades, we have been reminded that we operate in a global marketplace. Most of us know that we must be globally competitive to survive--but, at what price?

On January 20, I viewed a segment of the ABC News show, 20/20 Wednesday. The lead story was entitled: "Silent Screams in Juarez." Many of the details presented were very troubling.

ABC's transcript summary reads: "Unknown attackers are murdering and raping dozens of young working women in the border town of Juarez, Mexico." John Quinones, an ABS News correspondent, takes the viewer into their world, where young women, desperate for jobs, are being stalked by a nameless, faceless predator.

Quinones points out that over the last five years, almost 200 women have been brutally murdered in Juarez. Most victims were young girls employed at American factories known as "maquiladoras." He talks about Sagrario Gonzalez, 16, who was one of the victims.

"Sagrario was typical of thousands of young women changing the face of the Mexican work force," Quinones says. "They come from the interior of Mexico, from impoverished farms and ranches, where they no longer can make a living. They board buses and journey hundreds of miles to the U.S. border. Here, thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement, hundreds of American factories are eagerly hiring cheap labor.

"New recruits arrive in Juarez with dreams of a good job and a better life. The work they find pays about $3.50 a day, not nearly enough for an apartment," Quinones continues. "Many of the girls wind up living in shanty towns called 'colonias' with no electricity or running water. Sagrario lived in a shack with her mother and father, and two sisters who also work at the American plants."

Quinones goes on: "They work long hours assembling everything from sandals to cruise controls for cars. The late shift leaves the factory at midnight, heading into the darkness toward their shanty towns." An ABC News camera follows Guillermina as she makes her way home. She is the sister of Sagrario--killed on her way home last April.

The trip home consists of boarding a bus for a half-hour ride to downtown Juarez. There she must walk through the red-light district to where she boards another bus at 1:30 a.m. for a 40-minute ride to her shanty town. When the bus drops her off, she still is not home, but must walk through the desert, along the same path where the bodies of at least eight of the victims were found.

Quinones interviews the president of AMAC, a trade organization representing American factories in Juarez. "Some of these girls are walking home at 2 a.m.," Quinones tells him. "Why not change the hours they work?"

The reply is, "If you restrict the hours of working, you're going to restrict the economic influx into that city. There's a reason these companies are in Mexico, John, you've got to understand, it's to be globally competitive."

Many of the details contained in this report were too gory to include in this editorial. Plus, I'm certain that social and economic problems in this region are more numerous and complex than could be covered in a few minutes of air time. Even so, living conditions being endured by some workers at these border factories should invoke a deep sense of outrage among all Americans.

I urge executives of American companies operating in this area to take a hard look at their operations to make certain they are doing all they can to become part of the solution and are not actually part of the problem. Shouldn't this be a critical part of our global responsibility?

Don Dobbins, Editor