Cuba's Labour Law Slated For Overhaul

June 05, 2012 13:25 PM

Cuba's Labour Law Slated For Overhaul

HAVANA, June 5 (BERNAMA-NNN-XINHUA) -- Cuba is considering modifying its
Labour Law to extend protections to the island nation's growing
private-sector workforce, a jurist from the Supreme People's Court (TSP)
said Monday.

Any changes to the law originally passed in 1984 are expected to benefit
thousands of newly "self-employed" workers, as those not on the state
payroll are called, but modifications are currently under review, said
the president of the TSP's Labour Chamber, Vivian Aguilar.

Labour rights in the public sector also apply to private-sector
employees, said Aguilar, "including the right to wages (in accordance
with quantity and quality of work), holidays and social security."

Aguilar stressed Cuba's legal system has the tools needed to guarantee
the "adequate" protection to private-sector workers.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, more than
385,700 Cubans now work in the budding private sector and authorities
expect that number to reach 600,000 by the end of this year.

Cuban leader Raul Castro has launched an economic modernisation campaign
to reduce the government's bloated public sector by promoting limited
private enterprise.

His administration hopes those reforms eventually lead to the private
sector generating about 50 percent of Cuba's Gross Domestic Product.

--BERNAMA-NNN-XINHUA

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