Cuba
The ITUC does not have an affiliate in Cuba.
Cuba ratified Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) in 1952 and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) in 1952.
Legal
Freedom of association / Right to organise
Freedom of association
The right to freedom of association is recognised by law but strictly regulated.
Anti-Union discrimination
No information available. .
Restrictions on workers’ right to form and join organisations of their own choosing
- Single trade union system imposed by law and/or a system banning or limiting organising at a certain level (enterprise, industry and/or sector, regional and/or territorial, national)
- The government explicitly prohibits independent trade unions, though it claims there is no legal requirement for workers to join the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC). The ILO governing bodies have been stressing for several years the need to remove the reference to the CTC in the Labour Code of 1985, since the law law must not institutionalise a factual monopoly by referring to a specific trade union confederation.
- Undue or excessive privileges granted to certain organisations (such as privileges going beyond that of priority in representation for such purposes as collective bargaining or consultation by governments, or for the purpose of nominating delegates to int
- The law grants the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) a monopoly with respect to representation of workers vis-à-vis government instances. For years now, the ILO has been urging the government to amend the law by replacing the reference to the CTC as the "most representative organisation".
Right to collective bargaining
Right to collective bargaining
The right to collective bargaining is not specifically protected in law, but neither is it explicitly prohibited.
Barriers to the recognition of collective bargaining agents
- Previous authorisation or approval by authorities required to bargain collectively
- Cuban legislation requires the approval of the National Office for Labour Inspection for registration of collective agreements in many activity sectors.
Restrictions on the principle of free and voluntary bargaining
- Compulsory conciliation and / or binding arbitration procedure in the event of disputes during collective bargaining, other than in essential services
- In the event of differences between the parties involved in collective bargaining, the law imposes compulsory arbitration and provides for interference or intervention by the authorities and by the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba.
Undermining of the recourse to collective bargaining and his effectiveness
- Absence of appropriate mechanisms to encourage and promote machinery for collective bargaining
- The ILO considers that the law imposes a methodology established by the Confederation of Workers of Cuba (CTC) on all trade unions under a system of trade union monopoly established by law (see observation on the application of Convention No. 87), and this, together with the existence of provisions that are too detailed as to how collective agreements are to be concluded, do not afford sufficient encouragement to free and voluntary collective bargaining in accordance with Article 4 of ILO Convention 98.
Right to strike
Right to strike
The right to strike is prohibited.
In practice
The government violates the right to collective bargaining, freedom of association and the independent representation of workers. It has decided to make mass redundancies, leaving hundreds of thousands of people jobless, and announced tougher repressive and disciplinary measures in the workplace. It is trying to develop a model that preserves the essence of the system, i.e. collectivism, state ownership of the means of production, centralised decision making, planning and prohibition of the individual accumulation of wealth, at the same time as demanding greater productivity from companies and workers, and denying economic, political and cultural freedom through increased control and repression.
According to the Plenary of the National Council of the CTC, “we have to show the world that the workers, the backbone of our society, will forge ahead until the economic situation has been overcome, certain that they are taking the only correct and just path possible”. Salvador Valdés, general secretary of the CTC, underlined the need to ensure that the 2011 Plan draws on the lessons of 2010: “The major economic challenges facing the country require the trade union movement to change its methods and approaches, to act as a healthy counterbalance to the violations and transgressions that may arise with the implementation of the changes”.
The initial results of this process demonstrate that, despite the prior preparation for these changes, there are still problems that need to be resolved. Although this is a predominantly administrative process, the union cannot be neutral and must be the first to ensure that workers are given the help they need and are not abandoned.
The number of politically-motivated arrests was estimated to have reached 1,224 in November 2010, which discourages the formation of independent trade unions, as the authorities view exercising freedom of association as a political activity.
There have been no changes in the Cuban labour legislation. The trade union movement is controlled by the Cuban state, and the leaders of the single union CTC are not elected by the workers but appointed by the state and the Communist Party of Cuba.
On 10 June, the former political prisoner José Ramón Castillo denounced various trade union rights violations in Cuba to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Amnesty International had declared him a prisoner of conscience and he testified before this forum as a victim of repression in Cuba. He stated that Cuban workers’ right to self-determination is not respected on the island. Workers do not have the right to organise trade unions independent of the state and five Cubans are currently serving prison sentences for having tried to organise independent trade unions. This information has been widely documented by the relevant international institutions.