Cuban workers on Friday advocated for strengthening their role in direct union dialogue during the opening of the final sessions of the 22nd Congress of the Cuban Workers’ Federation (CTC), in the presence of Salvador Valdés Mesa, Vice President of the Republic.
Osnay Miguel Colina Rodríguez, president of the Congress’s Organizing Committee, emphasized in his remarks the need to redefine the role of unions at the grassroots level in providing political and ideological support for the processes, analysis, and the mobilization and convening of workers.
The event, taking place at the Havana Convention Center, has 759 delegates in attendance, 561 via videoconference and the remainder in plenary session.
Among those present were members of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, including José Ramón Monteagudo Ruiz, head of the Agro-Food Department, and Yudí Rodríguez Hernández, head of the Services Department, as well as other party and government leaders.
José Ramón Machado Ventura, commander of the Rebel Army, was present as a special guest.
In her report, Colina Rodríguez emphasized that, as part of the organizational process leading up to the event, 74,167 meetings of work collectives were held, with the participation of 92.2 percent of affiliated workers. These meetings yielded 42,430 proposals and suggestions that enriched the central report.
The debates emphasized union membership for workers in the non-state sector, salary compensation, incentives, productivity, commitment and utilization of capabilities, among other topics, and recognized the role of the National Association of Innovators and Rationalizers (ANIR) in these difficult years of the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade, as well as the energy blockade.
IMAGE CREDIT: Photos by José Manuel Lapeira Casas and Bárbara Vasallo. Luis Jiménez Echevarría
[ SOURCE: AGENCIA CUBANA DE NOTICIAS ]
