Free Trade Zones (FTZs) emerged in the early 1980s as a way of increasing foreign exchange, export earnings, employment for low-income workers and access to technology. With the US, Jamaica signed a Bilateral Textile Agreement (BTA), a Caribbean Basin Economics Recovery Act (CGI 2) and the Enterprise for the Americas initiative. The agreeme bled products in Jamaica and shipped them back to the US. Taking advantage of these trade agreements, the government expanded the Kingston Free Zone and established the Montego Free Trade Zone.

Women are the vast majority of workers in the FTZs. In 1995, young women were 90 per cent of the FTZ labour force. The average age of a FTZ worker was 25 and nearly two-thirds lived with their extended family or partners. At its peak in 1995, the FTZs employed more than 36,000 women.

Although the FTZ have provided jobs for women, often, the jobs are laborious, poorly paid, and there are few opportunities to gain new skills. These types of jobs do not enable women to pull themselves and their families out of poverty. Yet many Jamaican women workers organised and advocated to improve conditions in the FTZs and they were some notable successes. As a result of Jamaican women's advocacy, some factories provided vacation and maternity leave, medical facilities, and other benefits. Some women were promoted to supervisors or other more skilled positions (which is rare within the free trade zones). Other factories did not improve and the poor working conditions, ventilation, and labour rights violations continued. Whatever the faults of the industry, the jobs did help to mitigate the worst aspects of deprivation for low-income families.

However, this opportunity was lost when the US, Canada and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which created FTZ between the three countries. Under NAFTA, US investors could receive additional benefits such as national treatment, meaning that a US investor would receive treatment equal to that of a Mexican investor etc. These incentives gave companies additional rights within trade law.

Equally as important, companies could pay Mexican workers less than Jamaican workers. In 1997, Mexican workers were only earning US$1.51 per hour - far less than a Jamaican worker. In addition, it was less expensive to transport items from Mexico to the United States. Companies located in Jamaica also felt they needed to pay for additional security for the factory because of concerns about crime as well as for security for the shipments so that they wouldn't be used to transport illegal items.

To maximize profits, US companies relocated from Jamaica to Mexico. In 1996, Jamaica's exports to the US declined by 12 per cent, while Mexico's grew by 40 per cent in that same period. Between 1995-1997, Jamaica lost 16,000 jobs in the FTZs.

When women lost their jobs at the FTZs, many moved into the informal sector as higglers (market vendors) domestics, or providers of personal services (seamstresses, hairstylists, etc). However, some of these women noted that the market in their communities for these services was small.
Unfortunately, many of the women who worked in the FTZs lacked the collateral necessary to start one of these small businesses and did not have the qualification for the formal sector jobs available. Others who might enter job retraining programmes do not have the level of education needed to enter the programmes. Some women also noted that years of working in the FTZs left them with poor eyesight and breathing problems, rendering them virtually unemployable.

Although data is not available to analyze the informal sector, conversations with market vendors suggest that more women are working as higglers. As a result, it is becoming more difficult for market vendors to make a decent living since they either have to sell more vegetables or reduce their prices in order to compete with the influx of vendors.

The Jamaican government tried promoting other export-oriented work such as data-processing and telephone call centres which also rely on a predominately female workforce, but neither has been very successful. Minister Phillip Paulwell predicted that 80,000 new jobs would be created in data-processing and call centres but only 300 jobs were generated.

-Extracts from 'The effects of Trade Liberalisation on Jamaica's poor - an analysis of Agriculture and Services' done by Women's Edge Coalition and the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action.

The fear factor

Feeding the multitude

DANGEROUS PETS