BY JERRY FREIWIRTH

CHANNELVIEW, Texas - Three women refinery workers who recently visited Cuba, spoke and showed slides about their trip to coworkers and neighbors at a house meeting here.

Channelview is located just north of the Houston Ship Channel. Held at the home of Patsy McMichael, one of those who visited Cuba, the house meeting was attended by nine oil workers and about 20 more neighbors and friends and who were interested in developments in Cuba.

The three oil workers were part of a U.S. delegation that attended the 17th Congress of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers. Nearly 2,300 delegates and guests from Cuba and 1,400 international observers met in Havana for five days at the end of April.

"A congress of workers in power was the way Cuban President Fidel Castro accurately described the conference," said Patti Iyama, an operator in the heavy oils department at the Lyondell- Citgo refinery. "It took a couple of days for it to sink in that the delegates to this union congress were discussing and debating not just `union' questions but how they would run their country.

"You could see that in the pride, attention to detail, heated debate, and self-confidence workers expressed while describing their success in reversing the decline in sugar cane production for the first time in half a decade."

The Houston delegation, all first-time visitors to Cuba, were credentialed to report on the congress by their local union newsletters (Locals 4-227 and 4-367 of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers), the national union magazine, the OCAW Reporter, and by local radio stations and papers.

A front-page article on the trip appeared prior to their departure in the Pasadena Citizen, a daily newspaper. Entitled "Plant workers to view Cuban working conditions," the article was accompanied by a picture of two of the delegation members. This story circulated in the refineries around here and was posted on many control room and break room bulletin boards.

During their slide presentation, McMichael described the conditions in Cuba before the 1959 revolution. Over 30 percent of the people were unemployed, she said. Some 37 percent of the population was illiterate. U.S. businesses and crime bosses owned and ran the Cuban economy with the help of the brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

"What the CTC Congress showed us was how workers can take power and change all that," stated Iiyama.

A technician at the Shell Deer Park complex questioned whether the Cuban people really supported the government and felt free to openly voice their opinions.

Another person asked why people fled Cuba last year in rafts. "Why do most people in the world come to the United States?" asked Iiyama. "Because the U.S. is a rich country and they come from poor countries. Cuba is still a poor country despite the advances made since the revolution. But more importantly, just like in a strike situation, there are always going to be people who want to get out of the line of fire. And Cuba has been `under fire' from the colossus to the north for more than 35 years."

At least three of the oil workers and a postal worker present indicated their intentions to visit Cuba next summer as part of the international trade union conference slated to take place there concurrently with the World Festival of Youth and Students.

Jerry Freiwirth is a member of OCAW Local 4-367.  
 
 
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