LABOR 



103 



Units for miscellaneous work are agreed upon by 

 employer and employee. For example, a price 

 is arranged for the felling and cutting of a certain 

 tree; in one case in my notes an arrangement was 

 made to hauJ 100 stones by canoe for 30 cents. 



The tarea is the amount of work that a man is 

 expected to do in a day (except in such work as 

 gathering stones and cutting firewood where a 

 number of tareas make a day's work) ; and when a 

 man is hired by the day he is expected to do that 

 amount just as, when he is hired by the tarea, he 

 expects to do his tarea in a day. Actually, how- 

 ever, a worker by the daj" — unless supervised — 

 does not alwaj^s do his tarea — and that, doubtless, 

 is why Ladinos more frequently pay by the piece. 

 Rosales notes that an Indian hired by the day 

 made 10 trips with firewood in each of 2 days; on 

 the third day he was paid 1 cent a trip and by 

 4 p. m. had already made 15. Another time he 

 hired Indians for the corn harvest; they did only two 

 bags apiece the first day; the next morning he 

 accompanied them and the four harvesters filled 

 and transported six bags; then in the afternoon, 

 unsupervised, they managed only four. Again 

 he notes that he hired an Indian to fell a tree and 

 cut it up; the pay was for the whole job, so the 

 man started at 5 a. m. by the light of the moon 

 and by 8 a. m. had felled and stripped the tree. 

 An Indian who hauled stones at first worked by 

 the day (20 cents) and then by the tarea, by which 

 arrangement he earned 30 cents a day. 



Ladinos ahnost always pay for coffee picking by 

 the tarea, paying 10 cents for a fidl basket. One 

 Indian woman complained that she had to fill a 

 5-cent basket very full; she said she was also paid 

 8 cents for a coffee sack full. The Indians some- 

 times brmg the whole family, the women and 

 children stripping the lower branches, the men the 

 higher ones. The children, helping to fill the 

 baskets, hence earn money without any special 

 wage agreement. 



There is one other complexity in the wage 

 system; laborere frequently work for less than 

 noiTnal wages because either they accept favors 

 of an employer (such as living on his land) and 

 are imder obligations and lose part of tlieir bar- 

 gaining power, or they receive money in advance 

 for future work. In time of need the Indian asks 

 for, and receives, some money: no interest is 

 involved, but it is understood that he will work 

 off the debt when the other needs him. That time 



comes, and the employer asks him to work. The 

 Indian, conscious of the favor done him, is not 

 apt to be very demanding. Nevertheless, of 

 course, he does not work for less than the lower 

 figure in the pay range. The employer is usually 

 interested more in getting labor when he needs it 

 than in saving a few pennies in wages. 



Almost all labor is done on some kind of cash 

 basis. There are three kinds of communal labor 

 which are unpaid. First, there is the time of the 

 political and religious officials during their periodic 

 years of service. The only officials whose duties 

 entail occasional manual labor, such as sweeping 

 and running errands, are the alguaciles, who are 

 young unmarried men. Two shifts of them work 

 alternate fortnights; while on duty they can earn 

 money occasionally, for private persons may ask 

 to have them run errands for pay. Second, there 

 are cooperative enterprises such as the annual 

 cleaning of the irrigation ditches; each Indian 

 family concerned is expected to furnish a man, 

 and the Ladinos are supposed to hire men for the 

 purpose. Occasionally there are special tasks 

 that fall into this category; the river on a rampage 

 may require sudden action, and the people are 

 caUed to help ; or people may be asked to contribute 

 labor as well as money to repair the church. The 

 religious officials also customarily ask Indians to 

 carry the sanios in procession, and when the wives 

 of the officials prepare food for a fiesta they ask 

 other women to help. In the last instance helpers 

 are given food in return for their services. 



The third kind of communal labor is road work. 

 In accordance with Federal law, every man 

 between the ages 18 and 60 is required to work 

 on the highway 1 week (6 days) every 6 months 

 without paj'. If he wishes, however, he may pay 

 $1 instead of working a week. Since the rate of 

 $1 for 6 da3's happens to coincide, in Panajachel, 

 with the usual labor rate, the working class of 

 Indians usually work and those who do not cus- 

 tomarily work for others usually pay instead. 



Within a family (the group with a common 

 kitchen, that is) work is communally done. The 

 land is worked in common and one member of the 

 family docs not pay another to work, say, on a 

 piece he happens to be especially interested in. 

 But such a communal attitude stops with the 

 simple family, the economic household. When a 

 father and son, or sibhngs, live separately, they 

 may work together, but the one whose land is 



