Juarez maquiladoras recovering despite bloodshed

Swedish appliance manufacturer Electrolux, which is closing two Iowa plants, laying off 850 workers and shifting nearly all its production to Juarez — where it already employs around 6,000 people.

Delphi Automotive LLP, a parts supplier for General Motors, which has 12 Juarez plants and a technical center employing more than 12,000 people. Production is still a long way from the days when Delphi had 20,000 workers in Juarez, but the company added about 700 new jobs through late 2010.

Taiwan-based Wistron Corp. is also expanding in Juarez. The company produces components for Blackberry, made by Canada's Research In Motion Ltd., which declined to comment.

The maquiladora industry ran into the drug violence in Juarez on Oct. 28, when gunmen opened fire on a trio of buses carrying nightshift maquiladora workers to communities outside the city. Four people were killed.

Investigators suggested the attack was tied to a dispute involving the bus company. No arrests have been made — not unusual in a city where almost no murders are solved.

Since the shooting, employees say vans of armed guards have provided security escorts. Converted U.S. school buses, painted green and white and marked “Transporte de Personal,” rumble everywhere in Juarez, bringing workers to and from maquiladora shifts that run around the clock.

Some maquiladora workers have pooled their money and bought jalopies driven south from the United States and sold without registration, forming makeshift carpools to avoid company buses. But not everyone can afford that.

“Of course you're scared, but you've still got to go to work,” said Luis Garcia, 36, who makes 800 pesos, about US$65, a week cutting car-seat leather for the Eagle Ottawa company of Michigan, and who rides the same bus route where the shooting occurred.

The violence may be taking a toll even on companies. Electronics giant Epson, a division of Japan's Seiko Epson, pulled 25,000 jobs out of Juarez in the fall. The company says it closed its printer cartridge plant because of the global economy, not violence.

El Paso Mayor John Cook said some other firms have devised “exit strategies” and are ready to put them in action if violence gets worse. But Alan Russell, president of El Paso-based Tecma Group, feels safe enough to operate maquiladoras in 18 Juarez plants for 33 companies. All 33 firms have added jobs since 2008, he said. Four clients shut down production in Juarez in 2009 because of the poor U.S. economy, but the group added five companies in 2010.

Unlike Eagle Ottawa, Cook's company recommends not traveling with armed guards, and his security personnel don't carry guns.

“This is not a war of ideals or a war of religion,” he said. “It is purely financial and these killings are targeting players involved in the drug business.”

Maquiladoras have increased security, but their operators would not discuss specifics or say how much such measures cost. Russell said his company recommends clients eat at their Juarez factories rather than go into the city, and spend the night in El Paso.

“You don't play golf in a thunderstorm. You take precautions,” he said.

Bill Parisen is vice president for an international manufacturer that moved a California plant to Juarez, reaching full operation with 60 employees in July. He asked that the firm's name not be published because he is not authorized to speak for it.

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