A spate of suspected COVID-19 deaths among employees of US companies operating along the border in Mexico has triggered multiple protests, highlighting friction over which factories should remain open in the pandemic.
At least four workers at US companies’ factories in Mexican border towns died this week, companies and workers said on Thursday, adding to several worker fatalities apparently linked to COVID-19 since the start of this month.
Workers at Honeywell International, Lear, Regal Beloit and Poly have all died, the companies said.
Protests calling for safe conditions or shutdowns with full pay outside factories took place in border cities Mexicali, Matamoros, Reynosa and Tijuana after the Mexican government on March 30 ordered non-essential industries to suspend operations.
Dozens of protesters on Thursday demanded that a Honeywell assembly plant in Ciudad Juarez be closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus after an employee died.
“We want them to respect the quarantine,” Mario Cesar Gonzalez said outside the Honeywell factory, which he said makes smoke alarms. “The manager said that we are essential workers. I don’t think an alarm is essential.”
Honeywell said that its Ademco factory makes heating and ventilation controls for critical infrastructures such as hospitals and laboratories, and that the worker died after undergoing self-quarantine on April 2.
Electric motor company Regal Beloit confirmed two workers died this week in Ciudad Juarez after being sent home earlier this month in compliance with measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Vehicle seat maker Lear said that “several” of its workers had died this month at a hospital in the same city.
In Tijuana, workers protested after the deaths this week of two colleagues employed by technology company Poly. The company, also known as Plantronics, said that the employees died of unknown causes.
A report from labor rights group the Border Committee of Workers on Wednesday said that some companies have sent employees home on half salaries. Mexico has not yet implemented a universal payment system for furloughed or laid-off workers, but gives some loan assistance.
The report also criticized conditions, saying some factories did not have soap in bathrooms or in dining hall sinks at the end of last month.
The government is investigating why 15 percent of companies with non-essential activities had refused to stop work, Mexican Deputy Minister of Health Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Wednesday, warning that failure to comply could be a crime.
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