The Mexican government's decree to reopen maquiladoras producing "essential goods" has spiked controversy and protest.

In an interview over the telephone with a Regal factory worker alias Mariana, BBC shed light on the current situation of maquiladora workers. She barely earns $80 a month, and so she cannot afford to become unemployed during the pandemic.

For many factory workers in Ciudad Juarez, they would rather not risk their health going to work during the pandemic, especially since the environment of assembly plants does so little to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Mariana explained that there was little distance between the workers on the assembly queue. She added, "If a machine breaks, they put us all on the same one. Right on top of each other."


Bodies Were Dropping on the Factory Floor

At the same time, she also cannot risk bringing the virus home. Mariana worries about her family, who she considers being immunocompromised.

"I have a family member who's diabetic, and another with asthma. I'm trying to think of them," she said.

Mariana added that so many of the other workers who reported having high temperatures have died after they were sent home. She said, "And now other [workers] have high temperatures."

Official reports say that the death count of the factory workers in Ciudad Juarez, who died of COVID-19, is at 13. Still, a Mexican labor lawyer and activist Susana Prieto believed a more accurate figure might be three times greater. She also said that the factories in Ciudad Juarez only started closing when bodies began dropping on the floor.

There was genuine panic among the workers. The U.S.-owned factories breached the emergency public health decree by reopening ahead of the announcement of the president of the federal government.


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Pressure for U.S. Factories in their Interest

The United States' National Association of Manufacturers urged Mexico to reclassify some industries as essential so that U.S.-owned factories can be fully operational again.

In the past week, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard was contacted by U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Ellen Lord. She asked him to help the associations reopen international suppliers in Mexico. She said, "These companies are especially important for our U.S. airframe production."

Currently, Mexico is back to reopening factories in the automotive industry for transactions in North America.

Prieto argued that the emergency decree prioritized the wrong products. This also endangered many Mexican workers' lives.

"These factories should be closed," she said.

Head of the Economic Development agency Arturo Perez defended the U.S. businesses by saying that the pressure they were exerting on the factories was understandable. 

"It's in their interest." In an interview with NPR, Perez added, "But for us in government, the interest of Mexicans comes first."

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and Acting Assistant Secretary of Western Hemispheric Affairs Christopher Landau believed it was possible to not risk the lives of the workers without ruining supply chains.

While Mexico had more restrictive criteria for what constituted as essential work, goods assembled in Mexico were crucial to the supply chain in the U.S.

There are 300,000 maquiladora workers in Ciudad Juarez. Last week, there were 13 cases in the factory that Mariana works in, but cases have been underreported.

Because of the poor conditions in these factories, employees forced to go back to work are now at higher risk of contracting the coronavirus.