07/29/08 Trabajadores (Havana) - Union experience and skill are not dominant in most of the country's work centers when the time comes to attend to the subject of collective work agreements. Gabino Manguela Díaz, Caridad Lafita and Mercedes Sierra [Cuba-l translation by Machetera]* The Cuban Metalworkers Union has many years of excellent experience in crafting collective work agreements. Union experience and skill are not dominant in the greater part of the country's work centers when it comes to attending to collective work agreements (CWA) and, therefore, many consider it to be a work in progress, on the sidelines of the advances made in one sector or another. During the latest national sampling on the subject of CWAs, in September of 2007, committees from the Ministry of Work and Social Security and the Cuban Worker's Central, visited almost a thousand companies throughout the country and were able to confirm the existence of an agreement in more than 890 of them, and of those, 795 with a document actively in force, something that might be considered truly positive. But of some 2,620 workers interviewed in these same companies, only 33.2% had participated in a group discussion and approval of the document, some 32% said they were aware of it, and only 32.8% stated that its fulfillment had been analyzed by members of the group. Altogether, the interviewers met with more than 930 union managers, and of those barely 40% said they had any knowledge of the matters that should be incorporated in this legal mechanism. Such results show that the agreements are still not a substantive part of the relations between administrators, workers and unions within the same company and, although they're not necessarily a dead letter, they still haven't achieved the hoped for authority. It even might seem that the very essence of the socialist system limits the scope of a collective work agreement, as some opine that the relations between various factors in the company have already been appropriated by a high number of resolutions, decrees and labor laws for the workers' protection and benefit. At the same time, there are those who give little credit to the legal and ethical considerations in the document and allege that if conflicts arise, a worker or union organization would only win a complaint against an administration with some difficulty. The survey also points out that not a few agreements were marked by haste and improvisation, and a lack of dynamism and ingenuity in the addressing of affairs that make for good development of relations between the collectives and the administrators. Because of that, the obligations and rights of both parties are something that regrettably, are not always achieved, despite the fact that administrators, union groups and workers are obliged to comply with the agreements. In many places, worker participation is poor On a visit to the Antonio Maceo Clothing Company, speaking with Kenia Aguirre, the union's Secretary General, we observed another side of the story, demonstrating that the participation of her collective in the crafting of the agreement is limited. "The CWA is the company's," Kenia told us, "and it came to us already formulated. We read it in the morning meetings of members, so that they could gain awareness of it. Luckily, we've never had conflicts with the administration, but since all shops are governed by the same document, it's not tailored to each one," she said. In reality the efforts to legally formalize the collective work agreements have not been lacking - as much before as after the revolution - although it is evident that so far, progress has been inadequate. Alfredo Machado, member of the National Secretariat of the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC), acknowledged the lack of objectivity and dynamism in the implementation of the agreements, and pointed out that this has affected low participation by the workers in their formulation. Assessing the issue, Alfredo Machado, member of the National Secretariat of the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC), acknowledged the lack of objectivity and dynamism in the implementation of the agreements and pointed out that "this has affected low collective participation in their formulation, the non-existence of an effective check by the union leadership, and a lack of knowledge and preparation of these." While the terms of the agreements govern all workers - regardless of whether or not they are union members - and their compliance is mandatory, discrepancies constantly arise, furthermore, there are evident failures, which neither one party nor the other is generally capable of litigating, whether through ignorance, lack of control, or because the document is actually a dead letter. According to the investigation performed, few are aware that if such a disagreement should occur, the affair may be brought to agencies at an even higher level on both sides, and a sanction or criminal liability may be applied, if there was a violation of socialist law. "In our case," said Jorge Luis Riancho, Secretary General of the Cuban Metalworkers Union, "when something was not fulfilled, we sat down again to negotiate and if the conflict persisted we looked to higher bodies in search of a solution. Luckily we've always found the nerve centers." Fernando Laborde, an experienced unionist in this enterprise, assured that for his part, "the experience of many years in these questions shows us that the document has to be revised every three months, but if problems arise, it must be examined daily, and for that, the union bureau has assigned someone to that function," he said. But despite the numerous legal regulations, the balance is still unfavorable, and Alfredo Machado emphasized that "although everything is legislated, the conflicts and violations that take place do not end with the implementation of appropriate sanctions." The union doesn't always play the role it is assigned Decree Law No. 229 stipulates that an agreement should contain, among other things: income, promotion and retention of employees in an enterprise; work hours and breaks; a program of risk-prevention; payment terms, salaries and incentives and training. But a not inconsiderable number of heads of human resources and union leadership claim unawareness of what to do in order to include certain rules and regulations (something mandatory), while some consider it unnecessary, something that also could be linked to administrative infractions and insufficient training, direction and control by superiors. Today, everyone recognizes that the development and updating of the agreements is affected by the lack of prior preparation, by formalism, and because many union organizations don't play the proper role in ensuring compliance. Hence, adequate measures should be adopted to encourage, promote and regulate employment conditions, and the rest of the feasible affairs corresponding to each place of work. "But for that," said Machado at last, "the preparation of the union members must be undertaken, and the contents that should be in each of the parts of the agreement defined; the unions have the greatest responsibility in all of this," he reiterated. * Machetera is a member of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity and editor of the blog http://machetera.wordpress.com/. This translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source, author and translator are cited.
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Alfredo Machado,
miembro del Secretariado Nacional de la CTC, reconoció la
falta de objetividad y dinamismo en la puesta en práctica de
los convenios, y puntualizó que en ello ha incidido la
escasa participación de los trabajadores en su elaboración.
Foto: Eddy Martin |
Fernando Laborde, un
experimentado sindicalista de Cubana de Acero, asegura que
“el documento hay que revisarlo cada tres meses, pero si
surgen problemas hay que examinarlo diariamente”. Foto:
Agustín Borrego |
El sindicato no siempre desempeña el papel que le toca
El Decreto Ley No. 229 establece que el convenio
contenga, entre otros asuntos: ingreso, promoción y permanencia de
los trabajadores en la entidad; régimen de trabajo y descanso;
programa de medidas de prevención de riesgos laborales; condiciones
de pago, salario y estimulación y capacitación.
Pero un número nada despreciable de jefes de Recursos Humanos y
directivos sindicales plantean desconocer qué hacer para la
inclusión —algo obligatorio— de determinadas normas y reglamentos;
mientras que algunos lo considera innecesario, lo que también
pudiera estar vinculado con infracciones administrativas e
insuficiente capacitación, gestión y control de las instancias
superiores.
Hoy, todos reconocen que la elaboración y actualización de los
convenios está afectada por la falta de preparación previa, por
formalismos, y porque muchas organizaciones sindicales no desempeñan
el papel que les corresponde en el cumplimiento de lo establecido.
De ahí que deberán adoptarse medidas adecuadas para estimular,
fomentar y reglamentar las condiciones de empleo, y el resto de los
asuntos factibles de convenir en cada entidad laboral.
“Mas para ello —refiere Machado finalmente— hay que acometer la
preparación de los sindicalistas y definir qué debe contener cada
una de las partes del convenio; en todo eso los sindicatos tienen la
mayor responsabilidad”, reiteró.