Comité Fronterizo
de Obrer@s
CFO

For the labor rights and all human rights of the maquiladora workers

Workers and Fun Time Internactional

Mex-Star supervisor accused of sexually harassing male employees

CFOmaquiladoras.org

March 2007

Mex-Star maquiladora in Piedras Negras has never had a sign.

Benito Ruiz Ramos is a supervisor at the maquiladora Mex-Star Ensambles who is known at the factory for sexually harassing male employees. Things have gotten so bad that last February 21 nearly sixty workers at Mex-Star stopped work for about twenty minutes in protest of the discharge of a young worker named Edgar Azamar Candelario. Edgar refused to allow himself be insulted by the supervisor the previous afternoon and hit him in the face when both were in the street after leaving work at about 5 p.m.

For more than a year the workers in the Molding Department at Mex-Star (approximately thirty workers, the majority men) have been victims of sexual harassment by supervisor Benito Ruiz. This harassment has consisted of acts verbal mistreatment (cursing and shouting) and improper touching on repeat occasions of many of the male workers. In fact, workers previously signed a petition last December requesting the removal of the supervisor, but the company did not respond.

"Ooops, here it comes, the krazy straw "

Mex-Star is located in Piedras Negras, Coahuila and its workers make a variety of straws and plastic party cups. The maquiladora is owned by Fun-Time International, Inc. , a private company based in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and produces "Krazy Straws," (or "crazies," as the workers call them).

The argument between Edgar and the supervisor started inside the factory on February 19, when the supervisor threw a work report on the floor at Edgar. Then the supervisor cursed at him. This was shortly before the shift ended. Going out into the street, the supervisor looked mockingly at Edgar, and he reached his limit and punched the supervisor.

The next day, the general manager terminated Edgar without just cause, given that there were many witnesses to the fact that the incident took place outside the workplace; at the same time, the supervisor was not disciplined for his provocation. The newspaper Zócalo published a note about the mass protest of the workers and reported on the accusation that the supervisor, in addition to being a despot, has sexually harassed various workers.

Edgar refused to sign the resignation letter that the manager wanted him to sign. The letter stated that Edgar accepted that he had hit the supervisor inside the plant. Workers report that Benito Ruiz has the full support of the general manager, but not of the human resources manager and other confidential employees who have treated the workers well.

In a letter directed to the Vice-President of Fun-Time International on March 6, the workers said that they agreed to stop their brief work stoppage, but they want a solution to the problem of supervisor Benito Ruiz. And they add: "sexual harassment is prohibited under Mexican labor law, and we believe that Fun-Time International would also not tolerate its practice."

In past years, workers at Mex-Star have reported using very hot substances to fold and give shape to the straws, which workers fear are potentially dangerous. At the beginning of 2005, employee Graciela Oyervides was placed on disability status for carpal tunnel syndrome and, in the end, succeeded in obtaining a pension thanks to the help of the CFO.

Workers at Mex-Star have made contact with executives in the United States to address the problem of supervisor Benito Ruiz directly. Workers ask the owners of Mex-Star to remove this supervisor, and also to reinstate the worker Edgar Azamar.

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Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s (CFO)
Monterrey #1103, Col. Las Fuentes
Piedras Negras, Coahuila
C.P. 26010, México