• He feels much is still lacking. Among so many actions, what remains is to shake up the role of the trade unions from their grassroots in support of the country’s economic and social programme.

Ernesto Antonio Morales Gutiérrez remained restless in the videoconference hall until he was given the floor at the closing session of the 22nd Congress of the Cuban Workers’ Federation (CTC), held on 27 June.

«In the central report, what caught my attention was the call to achieve greater stability in employment and monetary income, the systematic linking of the Trade Union with economic affairs, and the need to pave the way for companies with economic losses,» he said and presented the experience of his collective at the Provincial Road Maintenance and Construction Company in Ciego de Ávila.

«We multiplied wages by two, distributed profits, and facilitated payment for workers through Transfermóvil and En línea, for the purchase of food at affordable prices at our centre, among other initiatives to confront the inflationary process in the country.»

The young man did not get nervous at the questions, through the virtual space, from Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of the Republic of Cuba.

–By what percentage has the salary increased?

«It has grown 1.6 times; the minimum is around 9,000 pesos.»

–How much have productivity, production and efficiency increased?

«Despite the fuel shortage, it has been 1.2 per cent above the previous month, that is, more production with less expenditure.»

Then, Díaz-Canel reflected on the issue: «We understand everyone’s concern about wages, but wages cannot be increased without a productive response because that means more inflation. We would be putting inefficiency into cost and expenditure with prices, and who continues to pay for it? The people.»

«That is precisely why we are proposing in the economic and social transformation process that calculating prices based on costs is not the most appropriate method, because an inefficient company has many costs; that is why we must seek the most efficient ones to set the prices, and those that do not adjust to the prices of the most efficient ones will go bankrupt.»

«Companies have the power to design their wage system, determine the amount to be paid and decide how to invest their profits. All these categories must be articulated when devising strategies and sharing them with workers so as not to lose the essence of having more production, more wealth, and being able to distribute it with social justice.»

At the end of the dialogue, Ernesto Antonio told Trabajadores that so far this year they have achieved 64 per cent compliance with the technical-economic plan.

«The result could be higher, but we are also limited by the economic siege on fuels, which has forced us not to abandon our main mission, but to reduce its actions, which are patching, repairing and inverted penetrations on roads of national interest.»

«To face the deficit of energy resources and comply with the production plan, we have worked on clearing road verges, painting facilities, constructive maintenance, and sales to workers and third parties.»

Morales Gutiérrez argued that in all these tasks the trade unionists are present, «mainly in the mission of guaranteeing that in the workers’ canteens the deduction is made from the payroll at the end of the month for lunches and snacks, so that our workers do not have to worry about paying in cash for those services in our company, a gesture they appreciate and are happy with.»

The young leader says he feels motivated by the functioning of the trade union sections in his company, but considers himself not fully satisfied because much is still lacking, above all, to shake up the role of the trade unions from their grassroots structures in relation to support for the country’s economic and social programme.