Some Remarks on Cuba’s Draft Labor Bill

Some Remarks on Cuba's Draft Labor Bill
July 19, 2013
Daisy Valera

HAVANA TIMES— Cuba's Draft Labor Bill, drawn up in December of last
year, is now being distributed to workers at all workplaces around the
country.

Advanced by the Council of Ministers and approved by the National
Assembly of the People's Power (or Parliament), the draft bill will be
subjected to the same review process which Cuba's Social Security Law
and the new Guidelines of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) were submitted
to: the so-called "popular consultation".

This consultation, hailed as an "expression of our revolutionary
democracy", is supposedly aimed at involving workers in an assembly
process where opinions and suggestions will be collected.

The Cuban parliament seems to know, in advance, what the final outcome
of this process (which ought to be a negotiation) will be, and at no
point considers the possible revocation or the radical re-design of the
draft bill.

The 16-page pamphlet is a painfully boring read designed to inspire
apathy instead of interest.

The technical language used and the lack of other, clearly-written
materials with which workers could effectively participate in this
legislative activity, guarantee, in fact, that very few people will
participate in discussions.

Yet the economic reforms undertaken as of the last Party Congress, and
the fact that over half of the articles in Cuba's 1985 Labor Code have
been modified over the last 20 years, justify the need to draw up a new
code for the workers of the island.

The main changes to the Labor Code proposed have to do with the duration
of work contracts. The new law proposes two types of terms for these
agreements: open and defined.

The new Code also seeks to modify the terms under which workers can
terminate contracts of their own will.

Though it will maintain the 8-hour work day, it proposes flexible weekly
hours (between 40 and 44), which can be decided by the managers of the
different workplaces.

Issues of considerable importance which the draft bill had been expected
to address, such as regulations for the self-employed, jobs generated by
foreign investment and the situation of professionals were treated only
superficially.

Under the new law, private employers are expected to guarantee a salary
equal to or higher than the country's minimum wage, pay social security
taxes and offer vacations to their employees.

The norm for these vacations, however, is set at a minimum of 7 days,
and the proposal is to take the vacation time directly out of the
salary, something not altogether favorable for the majority of
individuals with non-State jobs.

Though Cuba continues to bet on large companies as the generators of
employment across the island, it has not yet addressed such vital issues
as how benefits are to be distributed between the State and the workers
who take such jobs.

In addition, no private initiatives in the professional sector have been
authorized. Professionals (such as doctors or teachers) can still only
be employed by the State.

Two long sections in the draft bill alert us to the continuation of the
lay-off process. The bill seeks to regulate the process of declaring an
employee "available" (i.e. firing them) on the basis of their
demonstrated skills. It states that management will continue to make
such decisions.

The changes do not seem to favor the situation of workers, both private
and State. Only a few labor rights acknowledged by the bill strike me as
positive for example:
- The right to voluntary association and the creation of trade unions,
without the need for prior authorization.
- The right to undertake legal action, before the corresponding bodies,
authorities or entities, in order to demand adherence to labor and
social security legislation.

These might ultimately constitute a mechanism that Cuban workers can use
to revert or eliminate the growing difficulties they will doubtless run
into.

Source: "Commentary on changes in Cuba's Labor Code" -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=96686