[Wyoming53]

I worked for a company down in Grand Prairie Texas that decided to move their operations to Mexico. I was elected to go down there and set up the plant and train the folks on how to build cables. We built computer cables, telephone cables, wiring harness for clean room robotics for chip manufacturing, etc.

The plant in Mexico was a pretty nice setup for the folks. They started at 7 and got all the equipment set up and materials set up for that days work. Then at 8, they were given a one hour break and served breakfast (free) in the cafeteria. Then they worked till 12:30 and they were given another hour break for lunch (free) in the cafeteria. At 2:30, they were given a 20 minute break. The work day ended at 4:00. There was a office set up for a nurse the company hired. The workers could go in with a cold, hangnail, broken finger, or whatever. There was a sick call that started every morning at 8 and went till noon. Women could schedule appointments after 12 for breast exams, pap smears, pregnancy tests, etc. The workers were furnished with "Redwing" steel toed boots. Free. They were given 3 shirts, 3 pair of pants, and 3 smocks. These items had their names embroidered onto the shirts. They sewed in an id in the pants. At the end of each day they would throw the clothes into a big box and the company had them professionally cleaned and pressed. So you can see it was a pretty nice set up.

While working down there with those folks I learned quite a bit about them. As a Process Engineering Manager I was making $65k a year. My counterpart in Mexico was making $27k. The workers were making about $4 an hour. But you also have to figure that their apartment they were renting was only about $180 a month. While talking with them I would ask them, "Have you ever thought about sneaking across the border and seaking a better wage?" Every one I asked said, "Oh no, that is illegal. I have a good job. I'm not getting rich, but I pay my bills. I'm ok."

So that tells me that the people that do cross the border are less then honorable or they would be working in those plants. Emerson (refer's, tv's, radio's, etc), Ridgid Tools, Johnson Connectors, Fiber Optics, Alarm panels (fire equipment), etc were the buildings right around us. Seems a lot of business' take work over there.

That was in Reynosa Mexico. Just the other side of the river from McAllen Texas. All of these company's have their warehouses on the Texas side. They truck needed material for that days build, the day before it is scheduled to build. They do that because Mexico imposses a 17% tax on all material that is on the Mexico side for more then 15 days. So they truck it over the day before, build it, and get it back into Texas the next day.