Resumo

BECERRA PEDRAZA, Itzel Adriana; VAZQUEZ GARCIA, Verónica; ZAPATA MARTELO, Emma  e  GARZA BUENO, Laura Elena. Childhood and work flexibility in Mexican export agriculture. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2008, vol.6, n.1, pp.191-215. ISSN 1692-715X.

Since the mid-1980's, the decrease in public spending targeted to rural areas and the elimination of trade barriers challenged the competitiveness of the Mexican agrarian sector. Enterprises adopted technological and work-organizational changes, combining qualified manpower with other labor forces devalued by reasons of gender, age or ethnicity; the latter labor forces operate now under conditions of strong work flexibility. This paper analyzes forms of insertion of migrant child labor in the Mexican export agriculture. The data collection for this research was done in a dayworkers' camp belonging to one of the chief enterprises in this sector. Data were gathered through a survey of 66 families, 41 semi-structured interviews, 3 workshops with children, and a labor-risk matrix. It was found that 94% of children work in picking cucumber and tomato crops, and the remaining 6% (girls 14 years of age and older) in packing chores. Girls endure a double work day, due to their domestic duties. Average daily income is 97 Mexican pesos (about $9.40 US-dollars), which amounts to nearly one-half of the global family income. The conclusion is that the right to education and the right to health of the child work-force are the most affected, given the fact that twothirds of the children surveyed do not go to school, and their labor conditions expose them to considerable health risks.

Palavras-chave : Migrant child labor; export agriculture; work flexibility; México.

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