Sources in the Cuban Communist Party say the government has started to “reorganize” its labor force, implementing a plan the government claims will relocate to more productive employment more than one million workers during the next five years.
The Communist sources were quoted in late July by the Madrid news bureau, “Agencias.”
According to the news source, the relocation of about one fifth of the country’s labor force would be accompanied by economic reforms. The stated objective of the Communist regime is to propel forward the nearly destroyed island economy, removing from government employment workers that President Raul Castro has described as “unnecessary.” The displaced workers would be placed in other jobs where “they really have to work,” according to Communist Party sources. An economist militant in the Communist Party – who requested anonymity – stated that “we hope to eliminate 200,000 jobs every year, some 100,000 of them during the next year but only in the capital Havana.”
A Return to Farming
Those who refuse new jobs will have to go to Labor Ministry offices, request the assignment of parcels of land and dedicate themselves to agriculture, or live from the remittances they get from families abroad or from illicit businesses.
The Communist Party official added that those who are laid off would receive unemployment allowances only for six weeks and other social protections, such as free health care, education and subsidized basic services and rationed food at subsidized prices. This announcement has created panic in the population, especially among those who are of retirement age. The Communist Party economist stated that the government’s plan in Havana is to grant more self-employment licenses in the various trades that had been frozen for many years.
This news flies in the face of a large billboard posted at Havana airport that reads Welcome to the Workers’ Paradise!