Vol. 71/No. 11      March 19, 2007

As a sewing machine operator in New York City, I was interested to see firsthand the difference a socialist revolution makes in workers’ daily lives. I was struck by the contrast in social relations. In a capitalist country like the United States, the basic condition of workers is one of competition between us—for jobs, housing, and so on. “Look after number one” is advice we often hear. But in Cuba the prevailing atmosphere is one of solidarity. Where workers tend to look out for one another and to cooperate to advance their revolution.

When a boss in a capitalist country talks about efficiency or “team work,” we reach for our pocketbooks. Our interests are counterposed to those of the boss. In Cuba that changed with the revolution. The value that workers produce does not end up in the pockets of a capitalist. It goes toward workers’ social benefits, investments in the industry, or other needs of society.

It was striking to see the influence workers have on conditions at the suit factory and the leather shop, and the way they are involved in discussions on broader economic and social questions. As a result, whatever their criticisms—which they readily voice, such as the need to improve public transportation—workers’ morale was high and many expressed confidence about the future. This mood was consistent with three previous visits to the suit factory in recent years by socialist workers from the United States and other countries.

There are 144 workers at the suit factory and 40 at the leather shop. They hold monthly union assemblies to discuss how to improve conditions and increase efficiency. The manager gives regular reports for workers to assess results.

The pace of work was humane, especially compared to what I have experienced in factories in New York. At the Antonio Maceo factory, a brigade of 15 sewing machine operators makes around 250-300 pieces a day. At Thaba each worker makes an average of about eight bags a day.

In a factory in Brooklyn where I once went for a job, I made 30 pairs of shorts per hour for a few hours, but was told I needed to make 65-70 pairs of shorts an hour—just to earn the minimum hourly wage!

Workers welcomed our visit, taking a break for 20 minutes or so to share experiences and ask about struggles of workers abroad, even though this cut into their results-based pay (production bonuses are added to their basic wage).

Mercedes Martínez, 35, a sewing machine operator at the suit factory for three years, told me, "In Cuba we workers have our rights. We can take breaks for something like this, or to smoke or go to the bathroom when we need to."

In the plant where I work, any meetings, whether union- or company-organized, must take place during our 30-minute break—the only time we have to eat, have coffee or a cigarette, relax, talk, make phone calls, and clean up.

In the United States most sewers know that any training you get is from coworkers, often when your boss is not looking. Thaba manager Zaily Pons Machado told us that not only do they train inexperienced workers from scratch, but experienced sewers get three days to learn new operations.

Pons Machado, 36, said, “We always defend the rights of workers. If something happens that is out of the workers' hands, like an electrical outage or materials shortage, workers still get paid.”

Suit factory manager Miguel Tamayo noted that workers accumulate paid vacation time by 15 days every 5.5 months. One vacation is taken during the factory shutdown in July, and the second is rotated by brigade.

In my experience, when a capitalist garment shop shuts down, workers are on their own to try to collect unemployment pay. Often they end up receiving no compensation.

SNTIL leader Luis Guillén pointed out that women workers in Cuba receive a one-year paid maternity leave, at the end of which their job is guaranteed.

Safety is a big worry for workers in the United States, under pressure by bosses to work faster. In the last six months, two of my coworkers have been injured but took little or no time off, knowing they would not be paid.

The Cuban workers could not fathom such conditions. Miguel Leal Alfonso, 38, a packager in the suit factory for 21 years, noted that in the rare case of an accident, there is a free clinic nearby, and workers are paid for work missed due to injury.

You sometimes read in the capitalist press that Cuban workers earn $10 per month. María Eugenia Arnet, a presser at the suit factory, showed us her January pay slip, for the equivalent of $70. But such figures don’t tell the real story. While Cuba is a Third World country, many things we must pay dearly for—health, education, and other essentials—are free in Cuba. Rent is limited to 10 percent of household income. It costs the equivalent of 8 cents to go to the movies. And Leal Alfonso said a hot lunch is offered in the plant cafeteria for the equivalent of 2 cents.

"We don't get a big wage, but we live well and we're united,” Leal Alfonso said. “We live in peace, and with dignity."
 
 
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