Time

Person Speaking,

lower thirds/ text on screen

Dialogue

00:00:28

Josefa

The Labour Code my darlings! Here are a few guidelines on how to obtain your thirteenth month, your holidays and your amends.  

The employers have to know! They have to know that you know how to read and write, but also that you know how to do your accounts!

Hello love, how are you?

00:00:43

Woman

God bless you.

Still fighting?

00:00:46

Josefa

Yes. We are here so that you can fight too! 

00:00:52

VO

Josefa is 50 years old and a full time activist.

The former Sandinista revolutionary is now fighting for labour rights in her country.

00:00:55

Josefa

A summary of the labour code!

00:01:10

VO

30 000 people work in the free zone of Managua, the country’s capital.

American, Korean and Mexican employers have set up subcontracting factories, exporting Tshirts, jeans and shoes. Nicaragua has the cheapest labour force in central America.

00:01:31

Josefa

Nowadays, the free zone is the only employment source that we have. In our country, there are only 3 options: the free zone, working as a maid and prostitution. But we don’t want to see women prostitute themselves.

00:01:55

VO

Josefa’s movement is the only one to defend workers’ rights. Her goal is to put an end to the culture of fear that pushes people to accept their working conditions.

00:02:06

Joesfa

Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid!

If they fire you, don’t worry, we will be there.

We understand that they are new employees, but they have to understand that good working conditions are crucial, that they have to be treated well and receive a decent salary. That is all we ask! Nothing else! A dignified job for the workers of the free zone.

00:02:37

VO

The free zones, or “maquilas”, started to develop during the 90s. After the 10 year-long Sandanista revolution, which caused an American economic embargo, the country was bled dry.

In exchange for international help, the liberal governments opened the country up to foreign investors. This help allowed for free zones to develop, along with their associated tax benefits.

Thus, textile, car and agricultural manufacturing began to thrive.

But 25 years later, the results are distressing. The free zones’ added value isn’t obvious to the 6 million inhabitants. 

Nicaragua is still the poorest country in America, after Haiti.

(00:03:29) It’s 5am in Diriamba, south of the capital.

31-year-old Maria is getting ready for work.  

00:03:46

Maria

I have worked in the free zone for 13 years. I started when I was 17. I started off as what is called a “manual”, that is, an assistant. Then I was an operator for a year, working with a sewing machine. Now I am in charge of a manufacturing line. I’m really scared about the free zone closing. If this were to happen – what would we do?

00:04:14

VO

For 160 euros a month Maria works in a free zone in the countryside. More specifically, she works in a Korean factory that supplies textile to the American market. Maria’s salary supports five people at home. 

00:04:30

Maria

 In the morning I get up, shower and get ready. Meanwhile, my mum cooks my lunch for me. If she didn’t do that, I would have to get up much earlier to cook and do the dishes.

00:04:45

VO

Maria’s mother had to leave the factory before she turned 40 years old to help her daughter out at home.

00:04:52

Juana 

I often ask her how she is doing. She tells me that she is exhausted. It would be good if she could find another job, a better job than this one, but there are none. You can only find work in the free zone, so she has to go work there. 

00:05:15

VO

In Nicaragua, 80% of the active population live off informal work. Working in a free zone allows Maria to earn the minimum wage. 

00:05:28

Maria 

Many people say that you don’t earn a lot in the free zones. It’s true, the salary is very low. It is not sufficient to get by. But it depends on you: you can work harder and earn more.

A little kiss?

Are you going to say bye?

And you behave.

00:06:06

VO

Maria works extra hours and sometimes works until late at night.

In the Korean factory there are over a thousand workers who make clothes for Macys, Marc Jacobs and even Hello Kitty, all bound for the American market.

Most of the factories set up in these industrial parks make textiles. That is, over half of the 166 maquilas in Nicaragua are benefiting from the free zone regime.

The regime allows companies to avoid paying taxes and customs fees.

In exchange, it provides Nicaraguans with 100 000 jobs. 

00:06:40

Man

Those who supported neo-liberal politics imagined that the factories would solve the unemployment problem.  But it was only a stopgap. A stopgap that solved a few problems for 80 000 people but didn’t bring them any salary or union protection. Only women who were abused, raped or fired. If you ask me, there haven’t been any important signs of development. 

00:07:19

VO

Foreign media is not allowed to film the maquilas. Officially, this is because they wish to protect their manufacturing secrets. But 20 years after their foundation, they are increasingly suspected of abuse and maltreatment. 

Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.

Josefa’s movement is named after Maria Elena Cuadra, a Sandinista militant who passed away in the 90s.

That was the time when Josefa, former revolutionary, started her fight. As a labourer, she saw working conditions deteriorate after the arrival of foreign investors.

00:08:10

Josefa  

We got out of a revolution where women played an important part. We knew our rights and we knew how to defend them. They promised us better, more dignified jobs, but that’s not what happened. This pushed us to reunite and to resume the fight.

00:08:35

VO

Every week, Josefa meets with young workers. Her aim is to give these women a voice.

00:08:45

Josefa

Girls, I know that work in the factories is hard, I understand you. But it is even harder not to know what is happening inside of them.

00:08:58

VO

One year ago, Ana had an accident whilst making denim jackets. The machines were faulty but did not get replaced despite her warnings. 

00:09:10

Ana

At 11.30pm I got electrocuted. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t take my hand off the pistol. My arms were shaking, my whole body was shaking. My colleague, who was sitting behind me, came straight away and tried to unplug the machine. At that moment I fell against a table and hurt myself. I stayed on the ground, unconscious.

The Korean didn’t want me to go to the hospital, he told me that I just had to relax a little bit in the factory. 

00:09:45

VO

Ana still works in the same factory. She hasn’t gotten any compensation for the accident.

Despite the new government’s promises, labour rights are continually violated inside the maquilas.

In 2006, after 16 years of neo-liberalism, Daniel Ortega, the former Sandinista revolutionary leader, returned to power.

He has made promises of social rights, labour rights and guaranteed power to the people.

00:10:18

Ortega’s speech

Here, we will lower the big salaries. We will take this action for you.

What we have been missing is a people’s government, a government that will return the land to the farmers.

00:10:36

Pedro Ortega 

In the beginning, the first year of his government, there were some disagreements with the entrepreneurs of the free zone. The president told them that if they weren’t happy, they could just leave. But there is a gap between words and actions, because of this had taken place, then thousands of women in the free zones would be unemployed.

00:11:05

VO

Daniel Ortega, the former revolutionary, has converted to economic realism. Jobs in the free zone have multiplied during his presidency.

In 2011, he was re-elected with over 60% of the votes.

Felipe VI of Spain, former president Venezuelan Hugo Chavez, and even former president of Iran Amhmoud Amahnidejad, have congratulated Ortega for his inauguration.

However, the ballot is suspected of fraud and of being responsible for the death of numerous protesters.

(00:12:04) In the shadows of the tribunes, former Sandinistas criticise Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo’s authoritarian trends and their unkept promises.

The writer Sergio Ramirez was the vice president of the revolutionary government in the 1980s.

00:12:15

??

Our government relies on the rhetoric of those years but there is nothing revolutionary about it. We have an authoritarian government like any other that Latin America has already known. A government that want to maintain itself, maintain its family in a position of power. The power was concentrated in the hands of very few. There is no separation of powers, the parliament does not work freely and the Law is not independent.

00:12:51

VO

Inside Nicaraguan homes, no one dares to criticise the presidential couple.

In every neighbourhood, a Supervisory Committee keeps watch for any sort of retaliation.

And every day, the Nicaraguans see the face the First Lady.

00:13:08

Rosario Murillo

Good evening workers of Nicaragua!

00:13:13

VO

The omnipresent Roasario Murillo continues her speech, glorifying the president.

00:13:18

Rosario Murillo

You have a sensible and devoted president, not only when it comes to our people’s security but also with regards to family rights to tranquillity, dignity, pleasure, rest, work and to peace. 

00:13:34

VO

Maria’s mother, Juana, prefers to stress on the good that the First Lady has done for the poor.

00:13:39

Juana

She plays a very important role. For example, she works directly with the poor; she cares about their problems. She tries to solve them.

00:13:50

Rosario Murillo

Companions, I send you a lot of love and so does the President. As always, we greet all the Nicaraguan families.   

00:14:11

VO 

Juana manages the household budgets.

00:14:18

Juana

They are called tajada, they are plantains.

You take green bananas, peel them, cut them like this and fry them.

00:14:27

VO

Today’s menu is tajada and fried rice.

00:14:30

Juana

We eat less than we used to. For example, meat is much too expensive now. Before, we eat meat every day.

00:14:42

VO

Under Ortega’s regime, the salaries of the maquila workers have almost tripled. But the yearly inflation is close to 10%.

Today, the minimum wage does not even cover a quarter of a household’s needs. 

00:14:57

Juana

Protect my daughter who goes to work every day by motor bike, thank you Lord for keeping her alive as she is the one who provides for the family.

Ashley, come eat! Come!

I also thank God to keep Daniel at the presidency because he helps poor people. You know, for example, Daniel Ortega and his wife have given my mum a wheel chair. We couldn’t take her around without it.

00:15:28

VO

Thanks to his Venezuelan ally’s petrodollars, Daniel Ortega was able to finance numerous social programs: housing constructions, free health care and other aids to even the poorest of the poor. He thus won the support of the most disadvantaged part of the population.

And yet, almost half of the Nicaraguan population lives off less than 2 dollars per day.   

00:16:00

?

We have been benefiting from social peace and absence of war for almost 30 years now. It was affirmed to us that the social programs would resolve the problems of the country. But nothing has changed, it has even increased the inequalities between Nicaraguans. Do you realize that in Nicaragua, 10% of the population earns more money than the other 90%? 

00:16:32

VO

It’s 7pm. Tonight, Maria is not working overtime.

Having barely just arrived home, she goes to visit her grandmother in the suburbs of the village. She grew up with her grandmother, while her mother was working. 

00:16:53

Maria  

She is the one who raised me – not just me, but many of her grandchildren. She is like a mother to me; I am very grateful for her.

00:17:04

VO

Maria’s grandmother hurt herself a few days ago, and Maria wants to make sure that she is alright… 

00:17:11

Maria

Good evening! So, what happened? Did you fall?

Does it hurt?

00:17:21

Grandmother

Yes, it hurts. 

00:17:28

VO

Maria’s grandmother was born in this makeshift house. At 90 years old, she is still sharing it with her two daughters and their children.

00:17:41

Juana

It’s very small. This is the young mother’s corner. There is just enough space for a bed, nothing more. 

There are 3 families living in this small house. There are no men! They just make you pregnant and then leave. There are no husbands; my two sisters and their two daughters are single mothers. So they have to fight and keep going.

00:18:14

VO

For these single mothers, history is repeating itself. The aunt works as a maid and her daughter is employed in the free zone. In the 1980s, poverty didn’t affect Nicaraguan women as much.

00:18:27

Maria

What did people live off back when you were young?

00:18:32

Grandmother

People cut coffee, they worked in the fields.

00:18:37

Maria

Was that enough to survive? 

00:18:40

Grandmother

Yes, it paid for my rice, my beans and my meat… Yes, I had meat every day.

00:18:50

Maria

You don’t anymore?

00:18:51

Grandmother

Nowadays you have to work extra hard if you want to have meat.

00:18:57

VO

The women help each other. But once they reach the age of 40, workers often lose their jobs at the maquilas. This represents a great concern for Maria.

00:19:09

Maria

I am scared, I am scared of growing old.  This is also why I am working so much, to ensure the future of my children, so that they won’t have to live what I have lived. All the challenges that they have faced, and that I myself have faced, I do not want them to experience.

00:19:27

VO

With no qualifications, the factory is Maria’s only option. She is constantly afraid of losing her job, as maquila workers get fired regularly.

(00:19:45) In Managua, Joesfa’s organization is not giving in.

A legal assistance office has opened to deal with the worker’s complaints.

Lawyer Francis Valdivia handles the documents.

00:20:01

Francis

Lawyer

Hello! Please sit down. How may I help you?

When did you start working in this factory?

00:20:08

Gladys

On the 4^th of June. 

00:20:09

Francis

What year?

00:20:10

Gladys 2014.

2014.

00:20:16

VO

The American factory closed down 5 months ago. Gladys didn’t receive any compensation. At the factory, the employees kept working as they didn’t receive any notification.

00:20:24

Gladys

I was supposed to get 5 days of paid leave per year but they never paid them.

00:20:30

Francis

So they didn’t respect these allowances?

00:20:34

Gladys

No, and social security neither. We never received any certificate.

00:20:37

Francis

But they did deduced these charges from your salary?

00:20:39

Gladys

Yes, they always did.

Extra hours were required.

00:20:45

Francis

We are going to send all of this to the Ministry of Labour and file a formal complaint.

Please sign here. 

We often get these kind of cases from the free zones: the non-compliance of allowances, compulsory extra hours, very long working hours… whereas in theory, the law says that extra hours have to be agreed upon by workers. This law exists, but here, the one who has most power oppresses the subordinate class.

00:21:31

VO

With the help of the lawyer, Gladys is going to claim the 90 euros that the factory owes her – although these sort of claims most often fail.

(21:42:22) In Diriamba, one specific case has attracted many people’s attention.

Two former workers have agreed to testify.

One year ago, a textile company suddenly shut down. 

00:21:58

Cesar

No one told us that the maquila would close. All they told us was that they would give us holidays, two-month holidays. These holidays were forced upon us, and only 7 days were paid. From that moment onwards, everyone started to feel that they were going to close, which sparked off controversy.

00:22:20

VO

The 1428 workers had been working for several months without getting paid. Just as they had feared, the Korean entrepreneurs left the country without paying them.

00:22:33

Cesar

We have scarified so many years of our lives here. All that for nothing, we didn’t get anything. All they did was steal from us, from us and from all the people.

00:22:47

VO

Then, something unusual happened: some of the workers started to protest, demanding that the government take action. They took over the factory, threatened to set it on fire, stole machines and faced the police in a fight that injured a dozen people.

00:23:04

Cesar

We weren’t scared because it is what we needed to do. It was our work and our money that were at play. We kept on going because we knew that we were not going to come back to the factory.

00:23:23

VO

The Korean owners will never pay back the 700 000 dollars that they owe the workers.

After several protests, the city mayor gave out between 10 and 15% of the salaries. But 300 workers have still not received anything. They have given up on the fight for fear of reprisal.

00:23:41

Cesar

People would like to protest because their salaries are much too low. But they are scared, they are too dependant on their jobs, so they follow the boss’s orders.

00:23:53

Friend 

The government tells you that they are going to help you, but they don’t. For many people, it’s a waste of time and that’s why there aren’t many strikes in this country. If the government helped us, it would be different, but they are influenced by these foreigners, the ones that steal from us, us Nicaraguans.

00:24:16

VO

The two workers were able to find a new job in another maquila, two hours away from their homes. The strike leaders have not been reemployed. They have left the country.

00:24:30

Maria

Sit down here. Are you not going to sit down? Look at your brother and call your uncle Miguel too. Tell him to come over here. Come, Miguel!

00:24:44

VO

Maria and her family have gathered by the Trinity river. It’s Easter week and this year, Maria got 5 days of leave.

00:24:55

Juana

It should be 15 days:15 paid days. But oh well, it’s only one week. It’s very little.

00:25:03

Maria  

The most important thing is to spend time with your family. But we also relax. They used to give us less vacation, less days. Now it’s a whole week and we enjoy it.

00:25:20

VO

For want of money, Maria and her family will only spend one day by the river. During this sole day of rest Maria starts dreaming of another life for her children. 

00:25:32

Maria  

My dream is for them to go to high school, get their diploma and go to university, so that they won’t have to depend on their job like we do. We put up with humiliation, we put up with many things. They don’t treat us the same because we aren’t well qualified and therefore we can’t defend ourselves. So I hope that my children will have a real job. 

00:26:08

VO

Despite the new government’s efforts, the education level in Nicaragua is the lowest in the continent. Only 15% of young people go to university.

(00:26:18) 22-year-old Debora lives in the neighbouring village. She knows all about the vicious circle. 

00:26:25

Debora

Nowadays, when young people get out of high school, the first thing they do is to start working in a maquila. I know this, I am a part of it. I had to start working in a maquila because my family didn’t have enough money to pay for university.

00:26:45

VO

After 2 years at the factory, Maria got fired.

(00:26:47) Here at the Christian Youth Workers, she is working as an activist for her former colleagues. In this rural community, all young people have joined a maquila.

00:27:01

Debora

Manuel isn’t coming?

00:27:05

VO

Fewer and fewer people are willing to fight for their rights.

00:27:10

Debora

We’ll start by hearing Victor’s story.

00:27:14

Victor

The manager told me to change posts. I told him that I couldn’t, that I still have a lot of work to do at my current place. I told him that there were people over there that weren’t doing anything. Then he told me to go directly to the human resources office. There, they asked me to sign a paper. I asked them why. They told me that I was fired. I asked them why, again. And they told me that I hadn’t respect the rules of the factory or something like that.

00:27:44

Debora

But was there a trader union at the place where you were working?

00:27:47

Victor

No, no.

00:27:49

Debora

There wasn’t? 

00:27:50

Victor

No, that was never allowed.

00:27:54

VO

At the age of 24 and after 3 years of working in maquilas, Victor is considering moving out of the country.

00:28:05

Victor

I am sorting out my papers in order to travel, to go to Costa Rica. It’s a neighbouring country and I can always come back if there is any problem. The U.S. is too dangerous, you can’t even be sure that you’ll get there.

00:28:25

VO

Today, Costa Rica is the main destination for people like Victor. About 400 000 Nicaraguans have settled there.

Every day, there are hundreds of people lining up in front of the embassy to get their visa.

Ever since the country’s integration into the international trade, emigration has increased.

The money that is sent from abroad represents 12% of Nicaragua’s GDP: much more than what is generated by the free zones.