Saturday, May 10, 2008; Posted: 02:27 PM
Today, the company has on average 25-30 workers crafting saddles and other equestrian gear with intricate one-of-a-kind details.
There are orders to fill, but the family-owned company has a constant problem finding and keeping skilled labor. Mexican companies, like GRUPO SEGOR, are losing what skilled laborers they have to immigration because their workers are either moving to larger companies within Mexico or to the United States.
Finding and keeping skilled labor is a familiar story for economic development leaders and employers in Wilson and is one of the reasons that North Carolina is a destination for immigrants, both legal and illegal, who are seeking work.
State Rep. Joe Tolson of Pinetops, N.C., who was part of a Wilson group that traveled to Mexico, said he doesn't see the immigration problem going away. He said people will keep coming here to work in available jobs.
Statistics from the U.S. Department Labor show the number of foreign-born workers in the United States is growing. As of 2007, the United States had 24 million foreign-born workers age 16 and older in the civilian workforce. Of those 24 million workers, 50 percent were Hispanic. Foreign-born workers include legal and undocumented immigrants.
Tolson said just as in North Carolina, once an employer in Mexico gets a worker trained he moves to another job. But Tolson was struck by the difference in work ethic between the workers in Mexico and those who immigrate to the United States.
HALF-TIME WORKERS
"It's this idea that over there in the United States they can make more money, have a better quality of life," said Serafin Gonzalez Alvedra of GRUPO SEGOR. "But what is clear, though, is that in the United States they are going to work. They have to be on a schedule, meet production requirements, and there are a lot of demands. Being in another country, another language, other laws, they have to do what is required of them. Unfortunately, here in Mexico that sense of responsibility doesn't exist."
Alvedra said for the most part his employees don't work on Mondays. Two afternoons a week, his workers leave early to play soccer. On Saturday, people work about four hours because they have their paychecks and spend the afternoon paying bills. Work stops when people come to peddle candy and other food to the workers.
"They work about 50 percent of the day, in reality, with all of the down time," Alvedra said. "So really, the work is not poorly paid, it's just that they don't work with the desire that is needed. And so that is also the problem."
A leatherworker can make between $7 to $12 a day, or 700 to 1,200 pesos.
Tolson was also interested in the conditions inside the factory. He said the people were working hard in not the most comfortable working conditions. The day the group from North Carolina visited, several children were working.
Willie Lucas, chairman of the Wilson Chamber of Commerce's Multicultural Business Committee, said he saw some value in the children working in the factory. He realized most of the children were working because they needed the money. But he also saw their presence as a passing on of the gift and craft of leatherworking by the older workers to the younger ones.
In April, the Wilson Latino Initiative surveyed Wilson-area Hispanic residents to gauge what issues are affecting their families and the Hispanic community. Concerns expressed included the need for better jobs and higher wages. Another concern was the desire for the Mexican government to create jobs.
LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES
Alvedra estimated that roughly 50 percent of the people in Coscomatepec and the surrounding mountain region make their livings from work related to the production of equestrian products. For example, people make and varnish the wooden bases for saddles. Others tan leather hides. Alvedra said the rest of the people in the region work in agriculture growing vegetables -- corn, potatoes and beans -- primarily.
Alvedra said 30 percent of the 7,500 people living in the community of Tetelcingo, which is roughly 30 minutes away from Coscomatepec, have moved to the United States.
"It's a very serious situation," Alvedra said. "There have been attempts to create new jobs. We, as a family, are proud that we are doing what we have to do."
GRUPO SEGOR is made up of several different companies. The family works in construction, real estate, and the sale of building materials in addition to leather. Alvedra is the third generation of his family to work in the business, which was started by his father, Serafin Gonzalez Rodriguez.
"Well, we would like to do more but, unfortunately, the situation of the agricultural sector and the other sectors that use our products isn't the best at the national level. And that limits our goal of trying to keep creating jobs."
Alvedra said the government has tried some alternative agricultural programs, such as raising lambs and hydroponic greenhouses. But he attributes the lack of success to the fact government leaders in Mexico often lack the needed expertise.
"Many times, the people that work in public administration are not the best suited," Alvedra said. "Unfortunately, they come in paying political debts; people come in who aren't prepared in that aspect and unfortunately they don't do a good job."
creech@wilsontimes.com -- 265-7822
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