Corporate labour standards and work quality: insights from the agro-export sector of Guanajuato, Central Mexico

Abstract

In this article we analyse how workers perceive corporate labour standards and the related work conditions in the agro-export sector of Northern Guanajuato, Central Mexico. We do so by first comparing labour standards on local farms to labour standards at an international fresh vegetable production, harvesting, processing and export company that has explicit corporate labour standards. Second, we present how workers from two rural communities of landless workers employed in the agro-export industry perceive the differences between work at local farms and work at the agro-export company. Our results show that better pay and secondary benefits resulting from corporate labour standards do not necessarily translate to perceptions of better work quality. This relates to the broader work conditions in which these labour standards are inserted. Many workers prefer work with lower labour standards but that has more convenient working hours and enables engagement in family and social activities alongside the job. Based on these results we argue that, from a sociological perspective, work quality is a situated and very context-specific notion. Therefore, higher labour standards and better pay even in contexts of cheap labour and widespread poverty are not necessarily associated by workers with higher work quality.

Keywords:

• Corporate codes of conduct
• labour standards
• work quality
• agro-export chains
• Guanajuato
• Mexico

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions of the anonymous reviewers and the journal’s editors. The research design, execution and publication is the initiative and responsibility of the authors. The usual disclaimers apply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

Notes

1 In the literature and in practice these initiatives have also been discussed and treated as elements of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

2 We have chosen to keep the names of the two rural communities and the analysed agro-export companies anonymous, in compliance with established research ethics.

3 In 2017, almost 13 million Mexicans lived abroad (of whom 12.68 million were in the USA) compared to fewer than 2.5 million in 1980 (CNP-BBVA 2018).

4 For 2019, the hourly wage is estimated at $2.60. See https://www.ivemsa.com/manufacturing-in-mexico/Mexican-labor-rates/ (accessed October 16, 2019).

5 The poverty line as referring to income was established at 1713 pesos/month per person for rural areas and at 2654 pesos/month for rural areas in August 2016 (CONEVAL 2017).

6 INEGI (2019) reports that of the working population (employed and self-employed) of almost 55 million, about 20% receive one minimum salary, 32% one to two minimum salaries, 18% two to three minimum salaries, 8% three to five minimum salaries, and 3% more than five minimum salaries, and the remaining 19% is not specified. The minimum salary is established at 102.68 pesos/day for 2019.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by The Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek/Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), grant number W 01.70.100.007.

Notes on contributors

Jaime Hoogesteger

Jaime Hoogesteger (PhD) is an Assistant Professor at the Environmental Sciences Group of Wageningen University and a visiting researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosystemas y Sustentabilidad (IIES), Morelia, Mexico, and Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico. Over the last few years his interdisciplinary research has concentrated on understanding how the expansion of the agro-export sector is transforming water governance, rural livelihoods, communities and labour conditions in Central Mexico.

Gaya Massink

Gaya Massink obtained her bachelor’s degree in social and cultural anthropology and development sociology from the VU University in Amsterdam and a master’s degree in international development from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Her research interests include (fair) value chains and the delicate balance between natural resources and human behaviour.