It is up to us to create, to perfect, to act for the community and to accompany our workers, consensus at the Provincial Conference of the Union of Culture in Ciego de Ávila
We are the creators of the spiritual nourishment that can save us in these times of contingencies, of material and financial limitations, said Lian Díaz Arias, president of the Provincial Council of the Performing Arts, at the Second Conference of the Union of Cultural Workers (SNTC) in Ciego de Ávila.
«Two actions, he exemplifies, we must generalise because we cannot adopt administrative decisions at the mercy of the fact that the money is not going to reach us, that it is an indication of the country, everything must be consulted with our workers and the trade union organisation, this in the first place.
«The other thing is that it is up to the administrative staff to accompany the union in order to be able to attend to the union sections in the tourist facilities in the northern cay of Avila and the theatres, to visit workers in their homes, to go on foot to bring medicine to those who need it, not just to worry about the contribution, because the lack of accompaniment has really damaged the union’s functioning.
Marialina Joseph Poll, an art instructor with more than four decades of work in the Casa de Cultura of the municipality of Morón, said: «There is harmony among us, the union strengthens us, that’s why with fewer resources we applied more initiatives in the recent summer period».
It was learned that in order to generalise such an incentive in the sector, the trade union organisation has had for three years a system of regulated stimulation that establishes up to 4,000 and 10,000 pesos in remuneration for the most outstanding worker in the budgeted units and companies, respectively, and an emulation called Culture in Revolution, informed Katia María Rodríguez Ramos, general secretary of the SNTC in the country, who called for perfecting the process for the awarding of decorations and honorary titles.
«We are aware of the dissatisfaction because artists are retiring with an amount lower than the country’s minimum wage, and we are working on the evaluation of the matter; there are also concerns about the budget for cultural activities, among other issues analysed in events prior to our conferences, which have become a natural space to talk about the union, culture and society.
Lian Díaz Arias introduced the subject of the possible rehabilitation of the architectural jewel of the Ciudad de los Portales, to which Fernando León Jacomino, Vice-Minister of Culture, affirmed: «The Teatro Principal deserves priority because we are compromising not only the vitality of the institution, but also the formation of values of generations who have not been able to enjoy a first class cultural, theatrical and musical product there».
At the plenary session, also chaired by Nexy Veliz Naranjo, member of the Provincial Party Bureau, and Niurka Ferrer Castillo, general secretary of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba in Avila, the delegates to the National Conference and the new executive of the SNTC Provincial Bureau, headed by Bárbara López Delgado, who was ratified as general secretary, were presented.
