Cuban Economists on the Cuban Economy

8. Labor Relations, Labor Rights, and Trade Unions: Their History in Cuba

8 Labor Relations, Labor Rights, and Trade Unions Their History in Cuba Alfredo Morales Cartaya The basis for Cuban workers’ specific rights and labor relations is the country’s socialist character. The 1976 Constitution legally established the socialist nature of Cuba as fundamental to all of its policies and legislation, including all of its labor legislation. The constitution opens with this statement in Article I: Cuba is a socialist state of workers, independent and sovereign, organized by all and for the good of all, as a unitary and democratic Republic, for the enjoyment of political freedom, social justice, individual and collective well-being, and human solidarity.1 The constitution establishes labor as a right, a duty, and the basis of honor for every citizen. In accordance with Cuba’s socialist nature, it establishes that the state, as the collective power of the people and at the service of the people, guarantees that no man or woman who is able to work will lack the opportunity to obtain employment, in order to contribute to both the objectives of society and the satisfaction of his or her personal needs. Not only was the socialist constitution of Cuba created for the well-being of working people, but workers actively participated in its formulation and adoption. More than six million Cubans discussed the preliminary drafts, resulting in modification of 60 of its 141 articles. It was then submitted to a popular referendum and adopted by 97.7 percent of the voting-eligible population. The rights and labor relations of Cuban workers are not, however, a result of the Cuban Constitution. To the contrary, the Cuban Constitution is the result of a history of struggle by the entire Cuban nation for its rights and sovereignty and for the socioeconomic well-being of its citizens. And, of course, working people constitute the majority of any population. From the beginning workers were central to the overall national struggle in Cuba, 212 Alfredo Morales Cartaya while at the same time they fought for their own rights and well-being as rural and urban working people. Historical Background Cuba was the last Latin American colony to obtain independence from Spain. The U.S. intervention in Cuba’s war for independence turned it into a neocolony . The United States imposed the Commercial Reciprocity Treaty and the Platt Amendment on Cuba, giving Americans the right to intervene militarily, exploit Cuba’s natural resources, secure privileges for U.S. capital investments, and thwart any attempt by the Cuban people to establish a system of law and order of their own choosing.2 In the early years of the neocolony, U.S. interests promoted sugar monoculture, the structural deformation of the economy, and government corruption. The unrestricted inflow of U.S. capital to purchase land, sugar mills, tobacco factories, railway lines, and other sources of wealth reinforced exploitation, hunger, unemployment, low wages, lack of health care, racial discrimination, and other social ills among Cuban workers. The trade union movement began to emerge and to struggle for improved labor conditions and a higher standard of living right from the creation of the neocolony. In 1925 the National Workers’ Confederation of Cuba was established with the goal of creating a united front for all workers to fight for their rights. Its main leader, Alfredo López, was assassinated a year later by the country ’s repressive forces. Right from its birth the Cuban workers’ and trade union movement had to fight simultaneously for improved working conditions and for workers’ democratic rights. Workers suffered brutal exploitation, precarious labor conditions, unemployment, seasonal unemployment in sugar production, meager salaries, and more broadly, social neglect. They suffered not only from the absence of basic labor laws to protect them but also from much outright discriminatory legislation: Decree-Law No. 3 prohibited strikes, Decree-Law No. 52 allowed the government to deport any immigrant workers at its discretion, Decree-Law No. 63 banned many workers’ organizations and nullified labor contracts, Decree -Law No. 65 prohibited the collective assembly and action of civil servants, and finally Decree-Law No. 92 suspended labor leaders for two years if they did not accede to all the authorities’ demands. Hence, protests, demonstrations , strikes, and clashes, often bloody, characterized the country’s political situation in the first half of the twentieth century. These actions were directed not only against the discriminatory legislation and for labor rights and improved labor conditions, but also more broadly against the oligarchic regimes, coups d’état, and threats of U...