By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA, Jun 11 1997 (IPS)

Representatives of trade unions and the private business sector in Honduras announced Wednesday that they would launch an in-depth investigation of labour conditions in the “maquilas” or overseas assembly plants.

The president of the Honduran Council of Private Business (COHEP), Juan Bendeck, said the en masse fainting of some 100 female employees working in a South Korean packaging plant in the northern city of Choloma “is worrisome, because it could hurt investment and the country’s image.”

“We find the situation very odd,” said Bendeck. “It is significant that something similar occurred a week ago in the northern city of La Ceiba.” He implied that the incident could be part of a “pre-meditated strategy” by groups he declined to mention.

Roughly 100 female workers aged 17 to 20 fainted Tuesday in Wang Chang, a South Korean factory.

According to the physicians who attended the women, the fainting spells were apparently caused by overcrowded, dirty working conditions.

The employees, who enjoy no social benefits or protection, were carried out into the street and left there by the factory owners. They were driven to private health centres by the Red Cross and several reporters.

Jose Osorio, a physician who attended 30 of the women at his private clinic, said the faintings could have been triggered by “collective hysteria” caused by an inadequate working environment.

“The majority of the patients are suffering from malnutrition due to the lack of a balanced diet, which keeps them from withstanding pressure at work,” Osorio added. He recommended that the Labour Ministry carry out an inspection of the labour conditions in the maquila plants.

Israel Salinas, with the Independent Federation of Honduran Workers, said that many of the overseas assembly plants operating in Honduras, most of which are Asian, lack adequate working conditions.

Another possible cause of accidents is a fine dust given off by fabric, the inhalation of which could hurt workers’ health, he added.

As in other Central American countries, the maquila sector is one of the main sources of jobs in Honduras. The factories employ some 70,000 people and generate around 250 million dollars annually in foreign exchange.

The owners of the companies, which are located in the northern part of Honduras, have faced a number of lawsuits over the past three years for mistreatment of employees and refusal to allow their workers to organise.

Meanwhile, the business community and the government say labour relations in the sector have improved, and blame reports of unfair labour practices in the maquila plants on an “escalating” social movement that seeks to scare off foreign investment and aggravate unemployment.

Excerpt: