If this May first George W. Bush had watched television, he would have found a wide variety of channels covering what could not be hidden due to its magnitude: the great support enjoyed by the Cuban Revolution and Socialism on International Workers’ Day.
But as the old saying goes, the worst blind person is the one who doesn’t want to see and that is what is happening with Bush and his inapplicable plan to recolonize Cuba. A plan which for many workers would mean unemployment, management abuses and a lack of social security, among other evils banished from the face of this island since nearly a half century ago.
The Cuba transition the emperor dreams of tries to change: “old attitudes” on government’s role in providing employment, which would mean renouncing the country’s commitment to full employment and a decent livelihood for every citizen.
The lack of jobs would become even more serious during such a “transition” since foreign investors would focus their attention on the purchase of large businesses that a new US occupation government would be privatizing. Loans from international financial institutions would be dedicated to the remodeling of the economic infrastructure to make it in tune with a market economy. No non-conventional sources of finances would be available to face the massive unemployment, that the transition plan itself recognizes would increase when state enterprises are shut down.
Nothing different should be expected from a nation [US] that in spite of its huge richness, has a higher unemployment rate than Cuba and even higher among young Afro Americans.
The Bush administration’s Transition Plan promises technical assistance from the US government for the changing of laws and functions of the Ministry of Labor with the goal of allowing “the functioning of a free labor market” making possible for Cuba to reach the basic standards set by the ILO.”
It does not say that this same international body has criticized the present US government over its poor fulfillment of labor rights, mainly in trade unionism and on collective bargaining.
An overwhelming majority of US workers do not belong to a union, and with respect to collective bargaining, there are a growing number of businesses using so-called labor consultants to do everything possible to prevent unions from forming. An AFL-CIO executive called the consultants “a horrible threat” for unions trying to help workers to reach agreements with their bosses. Some of these consultants use illegal tactics such as threats of firing or plant shut downs if workers decide to form a union. There are employers, who having received advise from the consultants, threaten to take their operations abroad if a union is formed and proceed to fire the labor activists.
That is why Mr. Bush’s statement is so hypocritical that under a transition the labor laws of Cuba will be revised with the goal of promoting better relations between management and labor. The US Labor Department even has a laughable project to develop “democracy” at Cuban workplaces.
According to the Bush plan, the transition government could not go on with what he considers “the underserved level of retirement and pensions system that has been allowed by the Communist regime.” Retirees would be forced to return to work or live from public charity.
Such an attitude does not surprise anyone if you take into account the current US president has attacked workers’ rights, pensions and disability benefits in his country. For example, more than 20% of US citizens lack health insurance by way of employment, a problem that affects more than 40 million people this year.
The information abounds but that mentioned already is enough to reach a conclusion; the common enemy of Cuban and the US workers resides in the White House.
