There is no free lunch. He said his commission would propose a plan to solicit corporate contributions toward improving housing conditions, while simultaneously increasing productivity at the corporations' assembly plants. Government and company each would contribute one third of the cost of a house for one of its workers, and for 10 years the worker would pay the other third as rent. If the worker stayed with the company 10 years, the house would be his. In an industry with turnover as high as 80 percent a year, the goal is ambitious.
Work is instantly available.
This turnover lowers productivity. But when I talk to them about productivity and combating turnover, they pay more attention. Although human-rights groups on both sides of the border have attacked the working conditions in maquiladoras, Ruffo said the only problem that draws his immediate attention is the practice of forcing female applicants to prove they are not pregnant before signing on. He said human rights monitoring was necessary, but thought economics would take care of most problems. I don't think I would last very long there.