Interview with Marta Ojeda

Abstract

Marta Ojeda has been the Executive Director of the Tri-National Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladora since 1996. Originally from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Ojeda worked for 20 years in the Free Trade Zone factories or Maquiladoras. While a factory worker, she studied law in Monterrey, Mexico. In 1994, she led the Nuevo Laredo Sony Movement, where more than a thousand women workers held a wildcat strike to form an independent union to improve their working and living conditions. As director of CJM, Ojeda coordinates the Maquiladora Worker Empowerment Project, a popular education program that conducts workshops for Maquiladora workers on labor law, the constitutional wage, health and safety, reproductive rights, and fund-raising with an emphasis on training the workers. In 1997, she wrote a manual on the Mexican Federal Labor Law using popular language and graphics to educate workers about their rights and leadership development. She has been one of the most outspoken voices in women’s forums at international gatherings. In June 2001, she received the Petra Foundation Award for her work championing Mexican workers’ rights to independent unions, fair wages and safe working conditions in the face of corporate reprisals and government hostility. In 1999, she was named “Troublemaker of the Year” by Mother Jones Magazine. And in 1997, she received the Quality of Life Champion’s Public Service Award from the Southwestern Empowerment Community Center in San Antonio.