Trade Unions in Cuba

Elio Delgado Legon

HAVANA TIMES — The history of Cuba’s workers’ movement begins many years ago. It was the workers of the tobacco industry who set up the country’s first trade union – the Association of Tobacco Workers of Havana – in 1866, when the island was still under Spain’s colonial domination.

Owing to the exploitation it has endured since first coming into being, the working class has been the most revolutionary of all, and its trade union movement has proven an ideal means of mobilizing laborers in their struggle against capitalist exploitation and in their demands for better wages and improved social conditions.

It would be impossible to account for the state of development that revolutionary thought and praxis have reached in Cuba without assessing the influence that the workers’ movement has had on them.

The history of the Cuban workers’ movement may be divided into two major stages: the one preceeding the revolution of 1959 and the one which began on this date, extending to today.

During Cuba’s republican era (1902-1958), the struggle of Cuban workers was part of a revolutionary and anti-imperialist movement that protested for the rights of the working class.

On every date of symbolic importance for the proletariat, such as May 1st, the workers’ movement went out to claim its rights. At every congress of the movement, the workers planned new strategies to force capitalists to grant them at least part of their demands as laborers.

Many trade union leaders were murdered before the revolution because of their revolutionary intransigence, their moral fortitude and their capacity to mobilize the working class in its struggle to secure its demands.

Strikes were one of the most effective methods workers resorted to when they claimed their rights, for every strike day spelled thousands of pesos in losses for the capitalist factory owners.

I have come across a number of ill-intentioned (or ill-informed) comments, to the effect that Cuban trade unions don’t have any real role to play in the lives of workers because these do not have the right to strike.

On January 1, 1959, the situation changed radically, for the revolution set a government by the people and for the people. The workers became the owners of the means of production, and the aspirations of the revolutionary government coincided with that of the workers entirely.

A new, proletarian consciousness began to be forged. The revolutionary government considered the working class one of its fundamental pillars, and the workers responded as could only befit their class consciousness: by offering the revolution their unconditional support.

This, at least, is what they’ve demonstrated in the course of over fifty years, by joining other popular sectors in their massive participation at official functions, parades and rallies organized as a show of support for the revolutionary process.

This support is also demonstrated by the unity of Cuban workers, who are members of one, central trade union, an institution which represents and guides them: The Cuban Workers Federation (CTC).

As I write this, the Cuban working class is immersed in the preparations for its 30th Congress.

I have come across a number of ill-intentioned (or ill-informed) comments, to the effect that Cuban trade unions don’t have any real role to play in the lives of workers because these do not have the right to strike.

It would be impossible, in the limited space of this post, to list the numerous occasions in which the Cuban working class has demonstrated its support of the revolution. No Cuban worker or trade union leader would think of calling a strike to demand something to which they’re already entitled – putting their concerns on the table at a meeting, or taking these directly to the union leaders, suffices to solve the problem, or, at the very least, to obtain an explanation as to why the problem cannot be solved.

Today, a strike in Cuba would be inconceivable, for such a strike would not deal a blow to the economic interests of any capitalist, but to those of all Cuban workers, who are the true owners of the country’s chief means of production.

The role of trade unions under socialism is very different from the one they play in capitalism – the socialist revolution is carried out, after all, to give workers their full rights.

It is a mistake to conceive of the State as an independent institution which owns everything. The socialist State is nothing other than the representative of the entire people, who are the true owners of the means of production.

The role of trade unions under socialism is very different from the one they play in capitalism – the socialist revolution is carried out, after all, to give workers their full rights.

Today, Cuban workers take part in the elaboration and control of their companies’ production plans. If the management does not fulfill its obligations towards workers, their trade union, which is part of that company’s Governing Board, is there to demand compliance with the established norms.

The Cuban workers’ movement is also represented on the Council of State and plays an important role in the approval of new legislation at the National Assembly. The new Labor Law is one of the pieces of legislation to be discussed by workers in their preparations for the congress, before it is submitted to the National Assembly for final approval.

I think it is easy to see, from what I’ve expounded on above, the reason why trade unions and the government work towards the same objectives in Cuba. It is because no antagonistic contradictions exist between them.