cover image Mask of Democracy: Labor Suppression in Mexico Today

Mask of Democracy: Labor Suppression in Mexico Today

Dan La Botz. South End Press, $14 (223pp) ISBN 978-0-89608-438-4

Labor activist LaBotz ( Rank and File Rebellion ) is quick to point out that readers should measure Mexico neither against the U.S., with its hard-won history of collective bargaining, nor against Guatemala, where to engage in union activism is ``virtually to sign one's own death warrant.'' Nonetheless, he does paint a grim picture of a nation where workers are systematically subjected to long hours, scandalously low wages, hazardous working conditions and unhealthy living conditions. Largely responsible is the system of ``official'' unions organized and sanctioned by the oxymoronically named Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has ruled the country since the Mexican Revolution. The government's official policy has been privatization of the national industries. This has led to abrogation of labor's rights and attacks upon the unions themselves. The author concludes with a stunning analysis of the maquiladoras, the piece-work plants for the assembly of U.S. consumer goods, and the potential impact of U.S.-Mexico free trade. This work is meticulously researched and documented, though the prose can be a bit dry. The horrific story it tells, however, grips the reader. (June)