American company planning to leave Mexico without paying the employees.

La Cronica ^ | 3/8/09 | Mikey_1962

[Mikey_1962]

My translation:

The owners of Charmex a maquiladora in Mexicali Baja California was caught by its employees moving it machine back to the US in the middle of the night.

The company had been in Mexical for 17 years and had been losing money and planned to re-open in the US.

The article uses the verb fuga which means escape or getaway, and not in a nice way.

When a compnay closes in Mexico the are reqiured by law to pay a severance and this is what Charmex is trying to avoid.

[hinckley buzzard]

The maquiladora program turned out to be a disaster. It lured unskilled Mexicans from the interior to come and work in jobs within sight of the US border.

Did they think these peasants would stay put, with the promised land a few miles away and nothing to stop them but open desert in between? Another goobermint manipulation that went terribly wrong.

As for this firm, yes they apparently tried to avoid the mexican law but who cares. They didn't do anything to the mexicans that their own government hasn't done to them ten times over.

[DevNet]

How can one not blame someone for not paying what they owe?

[mowowie]

Over the years how many american companies packed up overnight and went to mexico?

F these guys.
I hope they get screwed.

[Cyman]

It is being done because most if not all of the managers live across the border in Calexico, CA and are almost paralyzed with fear going across on a daily basis. The threat of kidnapping and outright murder is rising to an unbearable level. US citizens and naturalized citizens are increasingly staying on this side of the border requiring family from Mexico to come north for visitation, the opposite of what had been routine all these years.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Jerks. I hope no US worker takes a job with these chumps.

With 20,000,000 illegal cheap labor aliens under the protection of US law, why would the hire a US citizen?

[dusttoyou]

Happy to help.

[Mikey_1962]

It is being done because most if not all of the managers live across the border in Calexico, CA and are almost paralyzed with fear going across on a daily basis. The threat of kidnapping and outright murder is rising to an unbearable level.

Understood.

I lived in Mexico for two years and was kidnapped twice, both times by taxi drivers.

What these morons did not understand is that I grew up on the lower East-side of Detroit. After I realized I was not going where I should I told them to take where I wanted to go or I would kick their ass and steal their car and go anywhere I wanted.

Both times they apologized and took me to work. But I under stand the concern

Now they have "express" kidnapping where they drive you to an ATM and withdraw as much money as possible. The total ordeal is about 20 minutes

[factorygirl]

I know the owners - they have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to comply with the strict rules of Mexican labor. They owners have always paid payroll, even when they had to get it out of their own pockets - they pay for employees health, housing, transportation. The owners were in the process of dividing all of the assets and were specifically giving all employees everything that was left. They turned on an honest American employer in a NY second.

[pnh102]

I really have no sympathy. These companies moved to Mexico, or places like China, to simply get cheap labor and skirt our labor laws. I am not impressed that this company did its best (allegedly) to comply with Mexican law, as that is the responsibility of any company operating in Mexico.

Any US worker who gets a job with these guys had better make sure his/her paycheck doesn't bounce.