Monday, January 28, 2008
Miami Herald: Now is a good time for labor and democracy activists to press for worker rights and reform in Cuba. With Fidel Castro still sidelined and the economy crumbling, pressure for reform is building — not only from ordinary Cubans but also from the international community. Promoting the Arcos Principles, which set standards for foreign businesses in Cuba, could pay dividends in a future transition, if not sooner.
The State Department and private-advocacy groups such as the Cuba Study Group do well to lobby governments, international-labor groups and business communities to help improve labor rights and conditions in Cuba.
For all its talk of being a socialist paradise, Cuba exploits workers horribly. Its labor practices hurt both workers and the foreign businesses that become partners in the abuse. Foreign businesses, for example, may only hire workers through a government agency. Foreign firms pay wages in hard currency to the agency, which in turn pays the workers less than 5 percent of those wages in pesos. That’s a 95 percent tax.
No independent unions
Ordinary Cubans, the vast majority of whom work for the government, get paid even less. Forget pay for performance. The regime also bans independent unions. In fact, six labor activists remain in prison, serving terms from 12 years to 26 years.
Their “crimes”? Denouncing violations of international-labor standards and attempting to organize workers into independent unions, what union activists routinely do in free countries. These men should be freed.
One sign that Cuba is bowing to pressure is that it recently legalized the annual bonuses, subject to taxes, that foreign firms used to pay under the table. Such bonuses motivate employees to improve the quality and productivity of their work. Those are the kinds of boosts that Cuba’s moribund economy needs.