The Influence of Unions in Cuban Tourism

Several determining processes affecting the lives of the Cuban workforce are underway in production collectives, service provision, and the budgeted sector, and the leisure industry is no exception, states Julio Enrique Morales Verea, General Secretary of the National Union of Hotel and Tourism Workers (SNTHT, in Spanish).

The preparation of union leaders is key in the work priorities faced by the organization. Photo: Taken from SNTH’s Facebook

He specified that one particularly important moment has been the training related to the 176 economic and social transformations, especially the 13 measures concerning the sector, covered under thematic axis 17. However, he reasoned, “to tell the truth, the others are somehow related to the activities of the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur).”

The important thing, he suggested, is to continue explaining to the men and women of hotels and extra-hotel entities the business opportunities that have been evaluated and approved by Mintur’s management and by business groups and national companies.

He considered the training received by the cadres of the organization to be an advantage. “It was directed to take advantage of the scenario of union assets to equip the leaders at the base with the contents before meeting with the workers.”

Morales Verea insisted on transmitting the real possibilities of each center to achieve greater efficiency, how marketing will be managed, how the approval of new payment systems and salary scales will be, according to the financial situation of each collective.

He suggested paying maximum attention to aspects such as updating the regulation for profit distribution and other allocations for repairs, construction or acquisition of housing, the fund for moral and material incentives, and others that promote the development of the entity, such as the training and preparation of staff and workers, which should be a priority, he emphasized.

“We also face the process of preparing the economic plan and budget for the year 2027, at a complex moment due to the number of closed hotels, others with compacted services, and a number of interrupted workers who are at the destinations.”

Morales Verea mentioned the adoption of measures for those in closed facilities to discuss or analyze at least the fixed expenses, with those there preserving those accommodations, until the revenue plan can be examined, due to the uncertainty of not knowing when they will be able to reopen for operations.

Julio Enrique Morales Verea insists on the role of the union in the face of new economic and social transformations. Photo: Noryis

He stated that the discussions must be tempered to the transformations themselves, due to changes in management models, which is a challenge, considering that workers must know how operations will be from now on. “This is also a great challenge for the union movement,” he emphasized.

A fundamental chapter is related to the new Labor Code, collective bargaining, the formation of General Guidelines, and Collective Labor Agreements. “There is already a diagnosis of where guidelines are signed with the business system and the budgeted sector, in the Ministry, and where national and provincial matters will correspond.”

In this aspect, he reiterated the training required for union leaders to negotiate well and also for the workers, who will later have to approve the Collective Labor Agreement after it is announced and generates the corresponding debates.

He emphasized that “it is necessary to continue strengthening the assemblies of affiliates and workers as a mechanism for real participation.”

Morales Verea acknowledged that the organization’s influence is crucial to ensure success in each of these processes, a good way, he stated, to welcome October 28 when we will celebrate the 31st anniversary of the foundation of the SNTHT.

Compartir…