LABOR 



99 



lower public officials perform such tasks as sweep- 

 ing, carrj'ing loads, and the like as part of their 

 unpaid duties. But as might be expected in an 

 agricultural community where there is great dis- 

 parity in the distribution of land, by far the most 

 significant use of hired labor is in the fields. 



The system of agriculture requires a great deal 

 of hand labor, some more and some less skilled, 

 in ditfermg amount for different crops. Thus 

 milpa-growing requires from 36 to 57 man-days 

 of relatively unskilled labor per crop-acre; coffee 

 growing a little over 50 man-days of much less 

 skilled labor; and truck farming from 197 man- 

 days (shrub beans) to 1,878 man-days (the 

 onion cycle) of relatively highly skilled labor. 

 Actually, since in the case of most truck crops 

 the growing season is only 3 or 4 months, so that 

 there may be three crops a year, the labor re- 

 quired in truck farming is usually not less than 

 about 600 man-days per year-acre, and in most 

 cases much more. If an acre of land should be 

 devoted to onion nureery exclusively for a year, 

 over 7,000 man-days of labor would be devoted 

 to it! This certainly is only a hypothetical 

 situation, but it is evident that a farmer rich in 

 delta land requires much more labor then he and 

 his family alone can supply. 



Both Ladinos and Indians in Panajachel hire 

 labor, and in both cases the source of this labor is 

 both the local Indian (and m rare cases Ladino) 

 community and neighboring communities of 

 Indians. "W'e shall be interested here only in (1) 

 resident Indians who hue out to either Ladinos or 

 other Indians, and (2) persons, Indian or Ladino, 

 from whatever community, who are hii-ed by re- 

 sident Indians. 



Since by definition "resident Indians" do not 

 include whatever Panajachelenos may be living 

 and working on plantations, there are few who 

 can be said to be full-time laborers. Since, also, 

 Indians living and working in the local hotels — 

 who are in virtually all cases Indians from other 

 to\vns — have not been included in this stud}', there 

 are few who will be counted as domestic servants. 

 Actually, in 1936, Indians of 17 of the 157 house- 

 holds of the Indian community fell into the classi- 

 fication of fuU-time laborers and domestics (table 

 24). All these households were landless." 



^> They account for all but nine of the landless Indian households. Of the 

 rem.iining nine (eight foreign and one Panajachelefio) five were families of 

 full-time artisans, and one of a carpenter who also rented land. On the re- 

 sidual three, including the Panajachelono family, information is lacking. 



There are, of course, a great many more families 

 members of which work part time for other Indians 

 and for Ladinos. Indeed, it is probable (seepp. 195- 

 199) that all Indian families except those of the 

 upper quarter in land wealth sometimes have mem- 

 bers working on the land of others. At the same 

 time almost all families of the land-richest half 

 of the Indian population hire hands, regularly or 

 occasionally. The result is that there are a num- 

 ber of families whose members are both employ- 

 ers and employees; these families tend to be in 

 the second-richest quarter. 



Table 24. — Full-time laborers 



' In 1 case the man was also a drummer, part time; in another, the wora:in 

 of the household kept a full-time restaurant. 



There is a considerable supply of labor from 

 neighboring Indian communities, some of it skilled 

 for work in truck farming, the total probably well 

 over a hundred from Concepcidn, Santa Catarina, 

 San Jorge, Solola, Tecpdn, and other places. 

 Some of these are regular workers attached to 

 local Indian or Ladino employers; of such the best 

 estimate is that 60 '* are employed by Indians, 

 many more by Ladinos. Others are transients, 

 chiefly from Santa Catarina, who seek work (and 

 advances on their wages) almost house to house, 

 although of course they know who is likely to hire 

 them at a particular season, such as for the coffee 

 harvest. All of the outsiders together put in a 

 total of some 730 days of work in Indian fields 

 (500 days in coffee groves, chiefly harvesting, 185 

 in milpas, and 45 in truck gardens)," no large 

 portion of the total required. 



'* Based on a 1941 estimate that 20 Cat.arinecos and 10 or 12 Concepcioneros 

 regularly came for the coffee harvest; 15 and 8 to 10, respectively, in Indians' 

 cornfields: and 4 or 5 Catarinecos in truck gardens; and on an incomplete 

 tabulation of cases, by households, showing that some 35 Concepcioneros. 15 

 Catarinecos, 6 Jorgenos. 4 Sololatecos, and 2 Tepanecos were known to work 

 for different Indians. 



^> Calculated with an informant, carefully considering for which of the 

 various processes of work in all of the local crops the outsiders are hired, and 

 the total required in Indian lands (table 39). 



