can immigrants during the industrial revolution before legislation was enacted governing working conditions. Workers face long hours in hard jobs with few amenities. While the factories they work in may be hi-tech and modern, living conditions are deplorable for workers if the example of one worker given by Kraul is representative of most, “Perez and other workers cope with ramshackle housing...crime flourishes...inadequate health services and water pollution plague the city...Perez lives with five young men in a dismal one room shack...the place has no running water or sewage facilities” (A20). One can see that such living conditions are deplorable even if the maquilas are able to make a living in border cities as opposed to living in the interior.
Wilson takes the most realistic and balanced perspective of the maquila industry and employment changes in Mexico. Wilson presents both extremes when it comes to those who see such employment systems as exploitative and those who see them as being of great benefit to the host country and its workers. However, as Wilson (359) notes, “I believe that neither side is totally correct: The spread of the assembly industry is not ‘natural.’ It is the result of human decisions, in both the public and private sectors. Th
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