Darío’s Stories

     Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows how fond I am of Darío and how thankful I am for the work he does.  It would be a lot more difficult to maintain this place without him, and we would never be as far along as we are this year without his help.  He’s an honest man and a hard worker who takes pride in what he does.  Saturday, as he was busy digging out a drainage trench, I heard him whistling while he worked.  Good.

     Darío had mentioned that he knew someone who might be interested in cleaning house for us, and that someone turned out to be his daughter, Luz.  When I asked him if he thought Luz would be interested, he questioned me very closely about pay, hours–all important questions, good ones, smart ones.  I gave him the information.  He then related the following story about Luz’s last job cleaning house for a Panamanian couple, professionals.  The job ended when the couple moved; I’m not sure when this took place.

     Luz worked 5 days a week (possibly only 5 hours a day, fairly common here), for a minimum of 25 hours a week for the grand sum of $40/month.  Right.  $0.40/hr, assuming only a 5 hour day.  At 8 hours/day, that’s $0.25/hr.  When she lost her job, she got nothing.

     Women in the work force, unless they’re professionals, are exploited here in Chiriquí.  I’ve heard of female clerks in stores in David who make less than $4/day, and do not get a lunch hour.  Darío confirmed that when I mentioned to him that I’d heard of the poor pay for women in David.  The lack of a lunch hour particularly outraged him; he drew himself up to his full 6+ feet and said, finger pointing to Heaven, “For the Panamanian worker, the lunch hour is sacred!”  If we weren’t on such a serious topic, I would have had a hard time not laughing, but he was deadly serious and I was subdued.

     Then he told me about a job he’d had for five years, working in a tomatero–planting, spraying, doing all the jobs an agricultural worker does in such a situation.  He, too, worked full time, at least 5 days a week at 8 hours/day (5 1/2 is the norm) for the princely sum of $80/month.  That’s a minimum of 160 hours/month, meaning $0.50/hr.  He received, as severance pay, after 5 years of work, $150.  He told me that it was a “slap in the face”, demonstrating graphically.  

     All of this, of course, was against the law.  The minimum wage for agricultural workers used to be $0.89/hr; it may have been raised recently, but it’s been $0.89 for a while.  His severance pay should have been much, much higher.  Luz’s situation is ambiguous, because I am unsure if there is a minimum wage for domestic help; I do think one exists but have no idea what it is.  One thing for sure–it isn’t $1/hr.

     I’ve heard of similar situations for muchachas.  I knew of one who was getting $5/day to clean the house of a Panamanian women; she was expected to clean what was a two story house with just a sponge–no other cleaning materials were supplied for her, except a broom.  If she didn’t clean the house to her employer’s satisfaction, she didn’t get paid.  Period.  

     Just recently, a post went around one of the Boquete lists, I believe, talking about a large store in David, well patronized by gringos, and their employment policies for their bag boys.  The store didn’t pay them any wages; they were supposed to make their money from tips (from el burro americano, no doubt).  Again, this is against Panamanian law; they were reported and have since discontinued the practice by firing a whole bunch of bag boys.  As far as I’m concerned, the whole practice of tipping is evil.

    I heard not too long ago that there were a number of angry Panamanians in Boquete, complaining that the gringos (read Americans) were getting together and “fixing” wages in Boquete, keeping wages low. Since it was a Panamanian who was telling me this, I exerted monumental self-control and said nothing, although there was plenty I would have liked to have said about the nerve to complain when gringos are cheated every day here by being charged double and triple what a Panamanian pays for the same goods and services**.  But the other irritating thought was that the people who exploit the Panamanian worker the most are other Panamanians, NOT individual Americans.  And the Panamanians damned well know that.

     Panamanian labor law is what it is in an effort to redress the balance between employer and worker.  It’s needed.  It’s just that cultural attitudes being what they are, everyone is out to cheat everyone else, and as usual, the powerless suffer.  However, most of them lose no opportunity to strike back if they get the chance, and we, the gringos, are the ones who are getting nailed these days.  Yes, they have contempt for us if they “get ahead” of us, because in their world view–as is true in nearly all of Latin America–if we don’t act like the oppressors, then we’re weak and contemptible.

  This picture is still very simplistic, because it doesn’t take into account the history of US intervention and bullying, as well as a far from enlightened employment policy on the part of such companies as United Fruit.  It all enters into the mix.

    Be that as it may, we’re here at this moment in history, living out, as Don Ray calls it, this adventure.  While I am the first one to warn against the perils here, I also believe passionately that we have an obligation to treat people justly.  I think the overwhelming majority of Americans try to do so, and it’s to our credit.  It’s just necessary to walk a fine line between treating people fairly and naiveté about the country and its people.  No one ever walks that line perfectly; it’s just incumbent upon us to try.

**Darío told me that within the past year, a woman in Potrerillos wanted him to contact an American also named Joyce–she thought it was I, the person for whom Darío worked–who a few years ago had bought a good deal of land south of Potrerillos.  This woman had slightly over a hectare of land, and she wanted Darío to offer it to the gringa for $60,000.  Darío cleared up the misunderstanding.  Not long afterwards, the woman sold the land to a Panamanian for $22,000.