By Daniel Martinez and Claudia Quintanilla
Briarpatch
May 2006
Two worker-driven initiatives in El Salvador have captured the imagination of a global solidarity movement.
HILDA CASTRO LIVES IN El Salvador near the capital, San Salvador, where she cares for her three children and works in a maquila, a garment assembly plant. Her hands leave no doubt as to the hard work she does to put food on the table for her family. Hilda’s sense of humour and her enthusiasm are readily apparent when she speaks.
Marta Sonia Diaz, like Hilda, has three children. She exudes cheerfulness and enthusiasm when she speaks about them, about her work, and about her union activities. Her relative youth belies the wealth of her experience and the many struggles she has witnessed over the years. Marta’s commitment to the struggle for fair working conditions and her capacity for sacrifice are inspiring.
Marta is the secretary of the Union of Textile Workers, and works closely with the Just Garments factory. Hilda is a founding member of the Cooperativa de Madres Solteras (the Single Mothers’ Co-operative).
Marta and Hilda are both veterans of the Salvadoran maquilas—they are the foot soldiers of the global garment industry. They saw the Salvadoran garment industry flourish in the 1990s, when it employed thousands of labourers. Now they are witnessing its decline as the maquilas are relocated to countries with more “competitive” conditions. But rather than remain passive victims of global trends, Marta and Hilda have become active builders of viable—if risky—alternatives that have attracted the support and captured the imagination of a global solidarity movement.
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