 This was a week of unexpected change. We were not satisfied with the progress of the house, so we hired a different crew to install the roof structure, while keeping the existing guys to work on the concrete and stucco work.
This roof crew had done work on the church and said they would have the roof up in three weeks (as opposed to five weeks we had been told by our existing crew).
Javier and our exisiting crew got upset and decided to quit, so they all left Wednesday morning (except Ralston and Alfred). We tried to explain that we werenot firing anyone, but they all followed Javier's lead and went. Javier had told them that we were planning to fire all of them - which was just not true.
 We had to pay all of the departing guys pro-rated vacation and Christmas bonus, even though they had quit without notice, This came up to about a $2000 hit on our already strained building budget.
By law, in Nicaragua, an employer must pay his workers one month salary in vacation pay and one month pay as a bonus at Christmas. If a worker is fired or quits, then the employer must pay them a pro-rated bonus as a "liquidation", regardless of the circumstances surrounding their departure.
The problem is that at the beginning of the job, we asked about deductions, taxes, etc and Javier told us explicitly that we did not have to worry about it because the guys worked for him, but he gave a different account to the labor department. The truth is that he is a good guy who just made a mistake. I guess we all have bad days and this was not his brightest moment.
Ralston, who had translated when we worked out the original agreement, told them that Javier had said that the workers worked directly for him, but the lady told us that in Nicaragua, they take the workers word and the employer's word just plain does not count.
That alone helps you to understand why foreign companies are so slow to invest in this country. It make it tough to try to help people in a climate like this, but it is what it is.
In any event, it all comes out in the wash, so to speak. If Javier had done things right from the outset, he  would have been charging us more to cover this vacation and bonus, so the net effect is that we paid it all at the end, rather than setting it aside each week. It was just a shock and an education into Nicaraguan labor law.
When it was all over, Tim shook all their hands and told them that he was not upset with any of them. They all are so poor and this money will help them out, even though we wish it had all happened in a different way.
Nevertheless, we had another crew hired within a couple of hours and they finished the top beam on the second floor in 1.5 days. They will build the balcony on the front of the house, while the roof crew will come in  Monday and should have the roof complete in 3 weeks, while we work on the living quarters downstairs.
When the roof is on, we are going to move all of our stuff over. Right now, Tim and Ralston are staying at the new house while Kim and Princess (our lab/shepherd dog) are staying at the mission house.
We are looking forward to begin teaching our classes. People ask us about it all the time. The construction has been burdensome, to say the least, but it will provide the facility for much greater things.
God bless you,
Tim and Kim |
