Workers of the world, join in
The 19th Congress of the Cuban Labour Federation - known as the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba or CTC - opens in Havana on Sunday.
But this is no ordinary trade union body.
Unlike union organisations elsewhere in the world, the CTC is not an independent entity that negotiates better wages and working conditions on behalf of its members, flexing its industrial muscle as and when necessary.
Instead, the CTC is part and parcel of the Castro regime apparatus, controlled directly from the top by the ruling Communist Party.
Which may explain why the CTC has never organised a strike - not even a "go-slow" - during the past 47 years. Not one.
Despite this, it seems the CTC has no problems enticing Cuban workers to join, if you believe the rubbish that passes for news in the tightly controlled media.
As you can read in this report from Prensa Latina, the regime's news agency, 96 per cent of all Cuban workers belong to the CTC.
Who knows what the other four per cent are up to ...
But this is no ordinary trade union body.
Unlike union organisations elsewhere in the world, the CTC is not an independent entity that negotiates better wages and working conditions on behalf of its members, flexing its industrial muscle as and when necessary.
Instead, the CTC is part and parcel of the Castro regime apparatus, controlled directly from the top by the ruling Communist Party.
Which may explain why the CTC has never organised a strike - not even a "go-slow" - during the past 47 years. Not one.
Despite this, it seems the CTC has no problems enticing Cuban workers to join, if you believe the rubbish that passes for news in the tightly controlled media.
As you can read in this report from Prensa Latina, the regime's news agency, 96 per cent of all Cuban workers belong to the CTC.
Who knows what the other four per cent are up to ...
posted by Luis M Garcia at 11:11 pm
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