I am a Spanish woman who emigrated in 1962. When I was 21 I came to Switzerland. Here my life became very difficult. I arrived in a country where I didn't speak the language, but after 2 days in the country I began working in a watch factory. Two months later I was told that I had to do piece work. I was supposed to do 3.000 pieces a day. I had to do this amount, if not they would pay me only for the work I had done. In order to do 3.000 pieces a day, I had to work at a forced pace and in so doing I became like a machine, more exploited and less noticed.

In 1963 I got married, but was given only three days of vacation. Afterwards, I continued working. At this time I became doubly exploited. I worked 9 hours at the factory and 5 at home. In 1964 my first daughter was born. During the 9 months of my pregnancy I continued to work at same pace. In fact, I worked right up to the last moment; my day began at 5.30 and at 9.30 that night I entered the hospital. When my daughter was 3 months old I returned to the factory. Since there were no creches I had to have my child cared for by a Swiss family. I had to pay 15% of my earnings to them.

We lived in a house that had no conveniences. Before we moved in it had been used as a stable; there were rats and, of course, no bathroom facilities. You might ask, "How could you live like that? " The reason was that when I saw a sign for an apartment to rent it said, "Swiss only: foreigners refrain from applying." Because of the bad conditions of my house I was forced to take my daughter to Spain. Here in Switzerland, women have no social services, let alone foreign women. Our daughter was in Spain 2 years.  During this time I changed my house and job. I now worked in an electronics factory, doing the same work as men, but was paid 6 Francs less or 50'o less than men, while being required to do the same work as they. I remained at this factory for 3 years. When I asked for a raise, they told me no, that I was a woman and couldn't earn as much as a man (it didn't matter that, as I mentioned before, I was doing the same work as men were.) In 1968 I left the factory, because they would not give me the raise I requested.

Returning to the watch factory I was forced to do piece work again. I was now told to do 7,000 pieces a day; this is the capitalist system as they exploit you more and more. In the factory they worked 45 hours a week, as well as spending 10 hours in traveling time because the factory is situated 15 kilometers from the house.

 As you can see, in 1962 they wanted 3,000 pieces and in 1968, when I began all over again, I had to produce 7,000 pieces. Well, to produce 3,000 pieces I had to work without breaks, to produce 7,000 pieces I worked without even being able to go to the bathroom. The factory schedule is as follows: leave home at 6.30, work until 12.15, begin again at 1.00 and work until 6.00, which makes 9 working hours and 2 going and coming. At 6.00 when I return home, I must return to the housework again.  Therefore, in total I work 16 hours a day which amounts to 96 hours a week. For 13 years I've realized all this and how it signifies true exploitation. Consequently, I can't take care of my children well (I have two, one is 1 and the other 6). While I work, the oldest stays at home until it's time for school, and the youngest I take to a nursery school, where 1 have to pay 400 Swiss Francs. In order to earn 400 Swiss Francs I have to work 9 days, but at this moment I'm not working.

Thanks to the system which exists in Switzerland today, the owners now discriminate more than ever. In almost all the factories, women's wages have been cut more than 2 francs an hour, and changing work means encountering worse conditions for the immigrant women. Here in general immigrant women are usually in a state of extreme nervous tension, due to the excess of work. I am one of the immigrant women who came to Switzerland healthy, but has suffered a nervous breakdown. This is all a result of the working conditions. I have many more things to say, but I've just wanted to tell you a little about the general situation of immigrant women. (01456)