NEWS & REPORTS

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A Successful Women’s Sewing Cooperative Helps Reduce Emigration

by Betsy Bowman

We all know that emigration of Mexicans (mostly working-age males) from the countryside to the big cities and to the US is a major problem – a problem for those left behind, for those emigrating, and for those whose communities are the destinations.  As we visit communities whose members have left, we have seen many creative solutions to the basic problem of there being no work.  Or rather, there is no one to organize the work that needs to be done and transform it into salary-producing jobs.  But there are people who have a vision of how to organize work into income-producing jobs.

Next Saturday, Jan. 19, we will visit with just such a person – Angelina Sotto Rios, the animator and organizer of the women’s sewing cooperative Hacienda la Trinidad in the community of El Moral.   Faced with the common dilemma of needing cash income and having to choose between sending a family member north or selling ejido land (legal since 1992), Angelina and the women in El Moral decided to try another solution – organize a cooperative to produce clothes and sell them. 

When they first got started on this project in 1999, they had 26  members.  But once they realized the amount of work and commitment involved, the numbers dwindled to six.  Getting organized is an uphill battle! Initially, Angelina had to travel to Mexico City to get federal grants for the building, the sewing machines and the training.  Another obstacle the women had to overcome was the persistent skepticism of their husbands, But they got funding for their factory; they built it with their own hands; they got 28 sewing machines; and, they got training on how to use them and today are producing clothes. One of the members, Juanita, had been trained to make patterns from a mere picture; and she can make a pattern in any size.  Custom-made clothes which fit from a picture is quite a feat.  Juanita can even make elaborate bridal gowns.  Today, Angelina spends time looking for places to sell their clothes.  One high-end, trendy shop in San Miguel sells them.  We saw a beautiful man’s silk shirt hanging on a rack in their factory.  It had a price tag of $2,000 pesos!  We wonder how much of that amount the women producers receive.  Maybe we can help them negotiate a better rate of return on their labor. 

But the good news – and we have learned this also from our friends in the Hidalgo network of agricultural cooperatives – is that there are federal and state monies available for legally constituted cooperatives. The Center for Global Justice can help groups navigate the paperwork to get legally established and then to get grants. The Center can also help with loans to a cooperative to cover their share of the money for the project not covered by state or federal grants.

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