October 22, 2007
Mexico Hopes to Tap into
New Labor Export Markets
Frontera NorteSur
Confronted with diminishing prospects in the United States, Mexican
workers could soon find additional employment opportunities in other places abroad. At a Madrid summit this week, the Spanish
and Mexican governments signed a 12-month pilot program that will ease job placements for temporary Mexican workers in Spain.
Scheduled to begin on January 1, 2008, the program will be open to workers in a variety of fields.
In a veiled poke at US immigration policies, Mexican Labor Minister
Javier Lozano Alarcon praised the new bilateral agreement between Mexico and Spain. "Instead of walls, agreements are constructed
when there is will, sensibility, intelligence and understanding," Lozano said.
Free of charge to potential workers,
the labor agreement will also permit some Spanish citizens to legally work in Mexico. Currently, an estimated 10,000 Mexicans
reside in Spain, half of whom are students. Mexican tourists visiting Spain number approximately 300,000 each year. Previous
to the deal with Mexico, Spain signed guest worker accords with Colombia and Ecuador. No specific figure of how many Mexican
guest workers will be contracted in Spain was immediately announced.
Meanwhile, more Mexican workers could be heading
north to Canada. Despite reported abuses and other problems in an existing Canada-Mexico guest worker program, some Canadian
political and business leaders are appealing for a dramatic increase in the number of Mexican guest workers allowed to work
in their country.
After a recent meeting with Mexican Interior Ministry official Florencio Salazar, a Toronto city
councilman told the press that he wanted much greater numbers of Mexican workers employed in Canada.
"Hundreds of thousands
of workers are needed," said Toronto Councilman Giorgio Mammoliti. "The (Canadian) business community has a big interest in
counting on (Mexican) workers, and we have expressed this at the highest levels of both governments." According to Mammoliti,
skilled Mexican labor is needed in the construction, tourist and service sectors.
"There are many Mexicans who go to
Canada to work but they are not trained for these areas, and the problem is that we need a lot of personnel," Mammoliti added.
Under
an existing agreement, temporary Mexican workers are allowed to toil in Canadian fields. Launched in 1980, the program's enrollment
grew from 678 workers during its first year to 9,913 in 2006. At its 2005 peak, the program employed 11,720 Mexican workers.
In recent months, however, the Mexican press has carried stories
about alleged poor working conditions faced by Mexican agricultural guest workers in Canada.
No immediate Mexican response to Mammoliti's proposal was forthcoming,
but the Canadian politician assured a reporter that Mexican officials are "in favor of expanding" the guest worker program
beyond agriculture. "We are confident of a bilateral negotiation," Mammoliti said.
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Sources:
La Jornada, October 12, 13 and 15, 2007. Articles by Fabiola Martinez, and the AFP and Notimex news agencies. El Diario de
Juarez, October 15, 2007.
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Frontera NorteSur
(FNS)
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
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(Reprinted with authorization from Frontera NorteSur, a free,
on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news source. FNS can be found at http://frontera.nmsu.edu/)
Translation FNS
