LABOUR-CUBA: May 1 in Cuba Won’t Mention Crisis

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Apr 29 1998 (IPS) - Hundreds of thousands of people will march through the main squares of Cuba Friday demonstrating in support of the Fidel Castro government, while avoiding all reference to the harsh economic crisis of the nineties.

“Let’s make all the squares shake on May 1,” said the Cuban Workers Centre (CTC) call to all the people, State and self- employed, of the nation.

Traditionally, hundreds of thousands of people turn out carrying banners supporting Castro, shouting “long live the revolution” and “down with the embargo” and other anti-Cuban US laws, and this Friday will be no exception.

These events prove “the Cuban people’s support of the revolution, their rejection of the US blockade and the neoliberal globalisation being imposed on the peoples,” said CTC secretary general, Pedro Ross.

The demonstrations will be attended by more than 1,100 foreign unionists from more than 50 nations, including a large group from the International Women Unionists Meeting held here Wednesday.

Ross told CTC weekly “Trabajadores,” Cuba is carrying out economic reforms free of “shock measures, mass layoffs or reductions in social security.”

Similarly, he described the maintenance of the main social conquests of the revolution despite the “critical and difficult” economic situation as a great achievement.

The combination of the effects of the US embargo, the disappearance of trade partners from the former communist bloc and internal errors, caused a 34.8 percent fall in Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 1990 and 1993.

The government has realised the beginning of recovery in 1994 did not improve the standard of living of the population, and experts state it will take nearly a decade for per capita GDP to recover 1989 levels.

Official sources said unemployment reached 6.9 percent of the economically active population in 1997, although there were still 100,000 vacancies, and 67,300 new jobs were created.

Unemployment fell 1.4 points last year on 1996 figures, as a result of 2.5 percent economic growth. But the Cuban panorama was still marked by the selective nature of job seekers.

Experts state that more than access to work, the main concern of the workers is trying to live on a salary which rarely exceeds 200 Cuban pesos, around seven dollars at current bureau de change rates.

Cubans pay almost symbolic amounts for electricity, gas, water and sanitation services and have free access to health and education, but they also face very high food prices.

One kilogram of pork costs around 50 pesos, a bunch of five onions eight or 10 pesos, one head of garlic one pess, and many basic products have to be paid for in dollars.

Around 50 percent of the 11 million Cubans are calculated to have access to dollars, either from remittances sent from relatives abroad or as they offer services paid for in hard currency.

How to feed everyone and have enough money to see out the month is the main problem of most Cuban families, creating a great deal of tension, according to specialist studies.

The Economy Ministry said the average salary rose to 217 pesos in 1997, but the official economic policy prevents any pay increase from taking place, in order to avoid inflation.

Ministry of Employment and Social Security regulations on salaries for personnel in technical posts published on April 21 set the maximum salary at 355 pesos.

The legislation did, however, resolve an old dispute by eliminating the clause demanding a certain amount of years of experience for any post which became available.

Much to the distaste of workers and employers alike, the law bans foreign companies from taking on Cuban personnel without mediation from a State agency.

“Every May 1 demonstration is in fact a plebiscite,” said the CTC secretary general, Ross, describing the main achievement of the Cuban union movement as its “monolithic unity.”

The bringing together of all the professional and trades unions in a single centre predates the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959, but the creation of other independent unions is banned.