CRAFTS-ARTISANS

THE SUSTAINABLE LIVING WAGE/INCOME IN THE ARTISAN COMMUNITIES

Research about the Guatemalan economy usually does not mention the traditional woven crafts of the Mayans communities throughout Guatemala. Descriptions of the Guatemalan economy focus is on agriculture and manufacturing with no inclusion of the Mayan crafts which are a constitutive dimension of the Guatemalan economy. In market after market in many parts of the country, the colorful weavings and the numerous products that have been made from the weavings are available in store after store, in stall after stall and from individuals seeking to sell their products directly to you. The Central Market in Guatemala is lined with small stalls filled with these crafts alongside the stalls for clothing, shoes, herbs and medicinal items, foods and household items. Truly the crafts are a means by which many earn their living. However a review of the individual stalls quickly demonstrates that many are selling the same items in varied colors or sizes but essentially the same items. In this market the stalls are operated by small business men and women who buy the crafts from the artisans. The biggest challenges facing the artisans are: access to markets beyond the local communities, product development that will provide new items to sell, guarantee of good prices for their work. A quick internet search for Guatemalan crafts provides extensive lists of the many groups and organizations working to provide access to markets for those who are producing the craft items. These groups serve a key role, for without them, the artisans would not have access to markets outside of Guatemala. These groups can be divided into two main groups: those involved in Fair Trade and those who are not. The Fair Trade movement, working in partnership with artisans around the world, seeks to raise the income of the producers through a set of specific relationships with the artisans and their communities. Fair Trade partners have specific relationships with specific artisans and artisan organizations. Long term relationships and commitments are key as a means of providing artisans with security of sales and therefore security of income. Because the purpose of Fair Trade is the increased income and standard of living for the artisans, their families and communities, prices are fairly negotiated. The Fair Trade relationship between the artisans and the sellers is usually a direct one which reduces the layers of middlemen (and women who also need to make a profit. This means greater income for the artisans.

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Guatemala endured a bloody civil war between government soldiers, right-wing groups (paramilitaries), and leftist rebels that lasted 36 years (1960-1996), the longest civil war in Latin American history. The tragedy of the civil war was deeply rooted in the day to day reality of the Guatemalan people. Extreme poverty, illiteracy resulting in the highest rates of incapacity for reading and writing in the Western Hemisphere, poor health care, homelessness, severe agricultural problems including the struggles of the farm workers, the exclusion and marginalization of the indigenous peoples, the fragmentation of society were some of the causes that led to the armed conflict. For this study, we examined the role of crafts in the communities in and around Chichicastenango. On Sundays and Thursdays, the market days in Chichi, as it is commonly known by locals, stalls line the streets with almost everything that anyone wanted or needed: foods, clothing, pots and pans, crafts and flowers, etc are organized in portable stalls on specific streets so that those familiar with the city know exactly where to find what they want. The markets draw the K'iche' Mayans of the surrounding region, as well as vendors from the Mam, Ixil, Kaqchikel and other indigenous groups selling their crafts. On non-market days, the streets are quiet and bare. The portable stalls that go up the day before market days transform the streets into color and liveliness that is difficult to imagine if you have not been there. For this project, we focused on the Ruth y Nohemi cooperative, a project of the National Methodist Church in Guatemala, founded in 1984.

History Of The Methodist Project Ruth and Nohemy by Rev. Diego Chicoj Before the violence, the church of this town had a membership of 300 and a building measuring 12 x 22 yards. During the 1980s the inhabitants were threatened and persecuted, then thrown out of their community, leaving behind their houses, land and animals. The most critical event occurred on an afternoon in 1981: the army cornered the townspeople at a site in front of the Methodist church, which is located at the edge of the road. They then arrested about 40 peoples, tied them up, and put them in the road ( as if they were logs ready for the fire) later, when not a soul was moving, the soldiers grabbed this same group of people, put them inside the church and bombed it. Thus ended the membership and their church. The army however, did not stop with that. Instead they went around the town and burned houses too. Three years later, a very old sister invited me to see if we might get together a few of the women and children who had been left widows and orphans. People from other churches in the area asked if they could join with us to celebrate worship services and we said certainly. We did this for a year and afterwards they become enthused enough to conduct their own services. In 1985 the church had 3 men, 8 women and a few children. One afternoon which I will never forget, 2 sisters who are members of the church come to me in tears saying Pastor, could not you help us with a few pounds of corn because we have no food for tonight? I felt a calling that we must do something for them. Feeling that in this moment it would not be helpful just to pray for them and tell them to pray and that God would help them. Rather, I thought how are we able to help? The next day I went to Quetzaltenango to present the situation to the president of the church and he listened and took an interest in their miserable situation. He asked me if only two people were in need. And I told him no. He told me it would be better to investigate possibilities and organize the people in need because it would be unjust if we helped certain ones and ignored the others. He asked what are we able to do? We dont give away, and even if we gave away a few dollars to each one, it will soon be depleted and the need will continue. It would be better to provide capital to allow them to work and thus provide income for the long term.

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In their relationships with the cooperative, CREA follows Fair Trade standards, which require the following elements: on-going, supportive relationships with the cooperative a cooperative democratically organized with gender equality up-front, just payment for goods assistance with access to markets environmentally sustainable operations. This conflict had had many implications. More than 200.000 people died and 50,000 were missing at the time of the peace agreement. The signing of the peace agreement between the Government of Guatemala and the URNG (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca) on December 29, 1996, ended the internal armed conflict that had resulted in dire consequences for the country: significant damage to the countrys infrastructure, the loss of precious human lives and human rights violations of its citizens

The Fair Trade system has three essential components: the artisans, the sellers, and those who recognize the work that is being done and purchase the items for their own use or for gifts. The components exist as a synergy, each interdependent with the others.

I returned to the community and was surprised to find that eight people were waiting instead of just two. I asked each of them what type of help was needed. Some said they could raise pigs, chickens and sheep. Others said they could weave and so they were given assistance according to what they could do. For example, they were given chemical fertilizer for their cornfields so that they could improve their corn harvest. The weavers, however, continued to come because once they had finished with their work, they carried the pieces to the market but no one bought them because at this time there were hardly any people, especially tourists, going to the market. Then an idea occurred to me- I could make purses, shirts and book bags out of the products that the women made. I organized some young orphans who needed to learn a trade, because at that time the young people were emigrating to the capital in search of work. Some found jobs but other did not, and all left their mothers in sadness because their husbands were already gone, and now their children were far away. So we asked for some sewing machines from the church office, and they gave us five used machines. I began to teach sewing to 9 young men and 3 young women of the village three days a week. In 1988 the few funds we had ran out, and I felt obligated not to abandon the young people involved in the project. I spoke with people at ACAD (Central American Development Assistants) to see if they might help us get a market for the few things we had and buy us a few additional things. This went on through 1988 and 1989, until in 1990 we finally got a little more aid to continues with our project. According to the women and young people already involved in the project, there were more young people who want to learn the trade. However, we lacked sewing machines, so we asked ACAD again if it were possible to get some more machines. They kindly got us four sewing machines, which the young people are using today. At present we have 8 young people working formally on the project, and 15 women weaving. The remaining young people went to work for other people after they learned the trade, one of whom is already an instructor We have now bought a small piece of land especially for this project, 800 meters from the village, where our team is working and studying. Here our objective is that the ladies and young people be not merely learn a trade, but that they also learn to read and write, and if possible get certified, for their own sense of achievement.

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People often think that the entire price that is paid for an item becomes the wages or income to the artisan. What must be taken into consideration is the artisans cost of the supplies for the work: thread, needles, cloth, zippers, etc, and the costs of equipment and any needed electricity. On the part of the seller in the US or elsewhere, the cost of transportation of the crafts from the artisan to the markets must be added to the price paid by the purchaser. In addition, if the arrangement includes on-going large orders, provision of storage and staffing must be included in the price. Otherwise this work could not be done on any larger scale than that of a single traveler making a purchase in one country, carrying it home to sell and then sending the money back to the artisan. The ultimate purpose of the price charged to the purchaser is to allow both the artisan and the seller to recoup expenses, to achieve a sustainable living wage, and to contribute to the development of the project. Most Fair Trade sellers are non-profit organizations that put their after-expense profits back into the development of the project. Their goal is to increase the market for the cooperatives. It is possible that a cooperative is organized according to Fair Trade principles but does not have access to enough sellers of their products who are willing to honor the Fair Trade price commitment. In those cases, the artisans will sell their crafts to other sellers simply as a means of earning a living. CREA has, in addition, created a Fair Trade-Peace Trade project to work with cooperatives to develop a self-sustainable and reproducible model that will allow these cooperatives, and ultimately others, to adapt more effectively to changing markets. The project includes product development and a production process that includes the design, development, marketing and production of new products to help ensure a more consistent flow of work. CREA has undertaken this project to support efforts to provide employment for men as well as women, in order to provide an alternative to joining the military, gangs, or drug dealers. Our understanding of peace is broad based. The absence of war is not yet peace if we do not address the systemic violence that hunger and poverty inflict. Collecting the Data As with the interviews conducted with the maquila workers, our team interviewed the artisans in their homes or work areas. All the interviews were voluntary. Aida introduced us and the project and why we were doing the project. Of course, all the interviews were in Spanish. Pricing was done in Chichicastenango even though the artisans live in villages around the city. The city is the main market where they do their shopping.

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The Fair Trade-Peace Trade project builds on the Fair Trade work CREA has been doing for the past 6+ years focusing on coffee, tea, cocoa and crafts from several countries. It focuses on building on-going relationships with cooperatives that are finding places for young men so that they have alternatives to violence as a way of supporting themselves and their families. In the past, most of the cooperatives have focused on women. This needs to continue as the development of ways of including young men is developed, expanded and maintained. The seed for the Fair Trade-Peace Trade project was planted during a conversation with our translator and driver during one of the trips that was part of the Women to Women Project in Haiti. In this project, we brought women from the US to meet with women in Haiti who were trying to start small businesses. The aim was to have each of the US women sponsor one or more of the Haitian women. During a conversation with Dumond, our driver and translator with whom I had worked on other projects in Haiti, he asked why there were no parallel projects for men. His reasoning was as follows: At that point, the job choices for men in Haiti were few: the militia, the police, the macoutesall part of the system of violence operating in Haiti. Despite frequent retelling of our conversation, I have never been able to find anyone interested in the project for men. But the seed of an idea was planted. Within the project, CREA is working with cooperatives in El Salvador, Guatemala and the Philippines. In the coming year, we hope to expand the project to Bangladeshi and Palestinian cooperatives.

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PROCESSING THE DATA FOR THE ARTISANS
As with the maquilas, spreadsheets were created for each of the pricing categories. The data was then entered into the spreadsheet with separate columns for each of the locations where pricing was done. The same was done for the data from the interviews. For each item in each category, we the calculated the high, low and average prices and then converted the average prices to minPP.

Housing and Related Costs in Chichicastenango and Nearby Villages Monthly Cost Rent or Parallel Cost* Electricity Cooking Fuel Transportation Telephone Use Total Workers live on community land Q 30.13 Q 116.67 Q 24.80 Q 87.50 Q 259.10 Weekly Cost Workers live on community land Q 6.95 Q 26.92 Q 5.72 Q 20.19 Q 59.78 Cost in minPP per Week at Minimum Wage Workers live on community land 70 minPP 269 minPP 57 minPP 202 minPP 598 minPP

*Many of the artisans pay no rent because they live on their own land

Food Monthly Cost Adult Man Adult Woman Child / Infant Total Costs for Family of Four Q 687.93 Q 653.73 Q 632.67 Q 2,607 Weekly Cost Q 158.76 Q 150.86 Q 146.86 Q 603.34 Cost in minPP per week at Minimum Wage 1,588 minPP 1,509 minPP 1,469 minPP 6,033 minPP

Water Monthly Cost for Family of Four Potable Water Non-Potable Water Total Cost Not available Q 12.00 Q 2.76 Weekly Cost for Family of Four Not available Q 2.76 Q 2.76 Cost in minPP per week at Minimum Wage Not available 28 minPP 28 minPP

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Education Monthly Cost Per Child Total N/A Weekly Cost per Child N/A Cost in minPP per week at Minimum Wage N/A

Clothing Monthly Cost Adult Man Adult Woman Child / Infant Total Costs for Family of Four Q 73.49 Q 107.34 Q 86.58 Q 353.99 Weekly Cost Q 16.96 Q 24.77 Q 19.98 Q 81.69 Cost in minPP per week at Minimum Wage 170 minPP 248 minPP 200 minPP 817 minPP

Healthcare Monthly Cost Common Household Medicines Savings Against Illness and Loss of Work Total Q 63.13 Weekly Cost Q 14.57 Cost in minPP per week at Minimum Wage 146 minPP

Q 26.00 Q 89.13

Q 6.00 Q 20.57

60 minPP 206 minPP

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CALCULATING THE SUSTAINABLE LIVING WAGE FOR THE ARTISANS

Sustainable Living Wage/Income for Artisans Monthly Cost Housing and Related Costs Replacement Clothing Non-Consumables Food Potable Water Non-Potable Water Education Health Total Q 259.10 Q 354.04 Q 200.00 Q 2,614.47 N/A Q 12.00 N/A Q 89.13 Q 3,528.74 Weekly Cost Q 59.79 Q 81.69 Q 46.15 Q 603.34 N/A Q 2.76 N/A Q 20.57 Q 814.30 Cost in minPP per week at Minimum Wage 598 minPP* 817 minPP 462 minPP 6,033 minPP N/A** 28 minPP N/A 206 minPP 8143 minPP

* This number represents the costs of light, fuel, etc. necessary even when rent does not need to be paid. * Potable water was not available in any of the hamlets where the artisans live.

THE SUSTAINABLE LIVING WAGE FOR THE ARTISAN SECTOR

How are we to understand the data presented? If the average workweek is 44 hours according to Guatemalan Labor Law, then workers earn 2640 minPP each workweek. (44 hours x 60 minutes per hour = 2640 minPP) For a family of four, the Sustainable Living Wage standard would require a weekly income of Q. 814.30. On a monthly basis, the income required would be Q3,528.74.

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