We are now in the second half of the year 2024, a stage marked by multiple distortions that are not unfamiliar to the Cuban trade union movement.
The affiliates have common concerns that make up an inventory of problems, analyzed in the current organic process to the 22nd Congress of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC).
The list of obstacles includes restrictions on fuel, lubricants and electricity, the high prices of the main inputs and the low budget allocation for the purchase of clothing, footwear and personal protective equipment.
The relationship is compounded by dissatisfaction with wages, non-compliance with payment dates, the failure to take advantage of high performance pay and obstacles in the distribution of profits, issues in which it is not always those who contribute the most who receive the most, according to discussions at the CTC’s Municipal Conferences, which are also in Summer Mode.
Another key issue – which has not reached the same level of importance in the analyses, although it is included in the reports – is collective bargaining, because it is part of the Union’s exercise of representation.
The responses to the workers’ complaints and claims are described as negative tendencies, the texts of which reflect more of the same: application of excessive disciplinary measures without the legal grounds to support them before the Labor Justice Body (LJB)and the Municipal People’s Court, often without the presence of the union leadership.
One such case occurred in the Avileño municipality of Morón. A security and protection agent was severely sanctioned with a salary penalty, cancellation of the payment for results, transfer to a work center outside her place of residence; the LJB ruled in favor of the management, the Court ruled to apply only a public reprimand before the labor collective and the reparation of damages, while the administrative management continues to be reluctant before the law and the sanctioned woman continues like a ping-pong ball, a matter for another reflection.
All of the above can be summarized in one phrase: struggling hard. It is up to the trade union organization to determine its responsibility within the problems that burden us and to act accordingly. What cannot happen is that nothing happens.
