76 77 cerro de pasco The greatest investment of the XXth century The reference to the “free one-way ticket” was one more incentive to persuade interested parties to make a quick decision and also for the employee to remain working there, becoming more technically adroit and progressing with the company, contrary to the custom of the farmers, who were hired only during the break in agricultural activities. Somehow the proposal paid off. Before the arrival of the 1920s, rural labour was hired freely and under the same conditions as any national or foreign worker, even if they had been hired in Lima. To this extent, the need to hire employees of other nationalities gradually diminished and, instead, a generation of national miners with world-class standards, levels of efficiency and performance was formed, for which they received timely payments, accumulated experience and over time, added skills. Less than twenty years after the start of activities, the company already had around a thousand workers in Cerro de Pasco alone and only thirty-five were foreigners According to Marcial Helguero Paz Soldan himself in 1917: “The progress made by the Indian has been astounding. He has been totally swept away by modern life. They are highly skilled workers who astonish because of the speed with which they assimilate all kinds of knowledge... The characteristic ease of their race to learn everything has made them, in a short time, indispensable men for tasks that are not possible to perform by a European or someone from the United States due to the scarcity of numbers and the rigours of freezing and harsh temperatures. While formerly they fled at the passage of the trains, today they are expert machinists, intelligent mechanics, skilled smelters and carpenters. They handle all the instruments of the mining industry with the same precision as a foreigner”, he enthusiastically summarised in his report with enthusiasm. The truth is that a decade after work began in the iron foundry section of the Tinyahuarco Smelter, all the workers were already Peruvian and were educational level of the inhabitants of the central highlands was one of the highest in the Andean region. The leaflet that they distributed throughout the region requesting labor to begin work in Morococha is quite revealing. On analysing this information, it should be emphasised that for farmers, the tasks within a technologically advanced company could be totally incomprehensible. Aware of these limitations, what the company offered in particular was a salary according to the worker’s abilities, the opportunity to enter the company as assistants of some trade –even without having previous experience– and the possibility of promotion all the way to the position of foreman, a ladder up which the remuneration became much more attractive. THE NEED TO HIRE FOREIGN EMPLOYEES WAS DECREASING AND A GENERATION OF NATIONAL MINERS WITH WORLD CLASS STANDARDS AND LEVELS OF EFFICIENCY WAS FORMED. Flyer that circulated to attract workers, in which wages were differentiated according to the skills of the interested parties. (Source: “El Minero de los Andes” by Heraclio Bonilla) 1,000 MEN ARE NEEDED FOR THE CERRO DE PASCO COPPER CORPORATION MOROCOCHA SECTOR Free hospital care, room, electricity and firewood. Commissary at low prices. DAILY WAGES Obtaining the highest salary depends on the skills of the workman, with the possibility of attaining foreman position. Free one–way ticket. MINE SURFACE S/. S/. S/. S/. Foreman 7.80 to 18.25 Foreman 7.15 to 9.10 Woodworker 7.15 Carpenter 1st class 8.15 Assistant Woodworker 5.40 Carpenter 2nd class 6.50 Handyman 7.15 Painter 1st class 7.55 Asst. Handyman 5.40 Painter 2nd class 6.50 Machinist 6.30 Mason 1st class 7.55 Carpenters 6.50 Asst. carpenter, painter, mason 5.05 Assistant Carpenter 5.40 Mason 6.50 Asst. Mason 5.40 Shovellers 4.20
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