Four leaders of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC) Cuba's central union organization, will attend and speak at the conference. They are: Pedro Ross Leal, secretary general of the CTC; Leonel González González, CTC director of international relations; Manuel Montero Bistilliero, head of the CTC's North American Interests Bureau; and Diana María García, general secretary of the Public Administrative Workers union.

"We got support from oil workers in Algeria, maybe we should ask for support from Cuban workers," said a member of Local 593 of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) union who has been on strike for six months against a union-busting drive by the Petro-Canada oil company.

"I didn't know there are unions in Cuba. I didn't think Fidel Castro would allow that," commented another member of the CEP. "This looks interesting."

"I think that's great, give me some leaflets for members of my union," said a union member celebrating with the rest of her contingent of mostly immigrant workers their recent victory against a month-long lockout by the Sheraton-Four Points hotel.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, the Ontario Division and the Toronto District Council of the Canadian Union of Public Employees are endorsers of the conference.

At the Labor Day parade in Detroit, supporters of the conference distributed information about the event. Windsor, the site of the meeting, is across the river from Detroit on the U.S.-Canadian border.

The solidarity conference is being organized jointly by Worker-to-Worker Canada-Cuba Labour Solidarity Network and the U.S.-Cuba Labor Exchange in the United States. The four Cuban union leaders had been invited to speak in 25 U.S. cities and Puerto Rico, but Washington canceled visas needed by Cuban trade union leaders to enter the United States.

The conference will be held at the Canadian Auto Workers Local 444 union hall in Windsor at 1855 Turner Rd. For information on registration fee, housing, and other details, contact U.S.-Cuba Labor Exchange at Phone/fax (313)561-8330 or Worker to Worker Canada-Cuba Labour Solidarity Network at www.worker2worker.net or E-Mail:wtw@web.ca.  
 
 
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