Federation of Cuban Workers (CTC)

Cuba's primary labor confederation from its foundation in 1939 to the present has been the Federation of Cuban Workers (Confederación de Trabajadores Cubanos—CTC). Communists under Lázaro Peña controlled this organization until 1946. The CTC claimed over 400,000 members by the early 1940s. Eusebio Mujal, an Auténtico (nationalist-revolutionary), became secretary general of the CTC in 1947. Under Mujal the CTC suppressed strikes, organized pro-government rallies, and repressed labor dissidents in exchange for government support. Union corruption became a serious problem. Despite shortcomings, the CTC continued to grow and by 1959 represented over 1 million Cuban workers.

Cuban labor history changed dramatically with the onset of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Mujal fled the country and the CTC went into decline. It remained largely inactive during the first decade of the revolution. After 1970, however, the government revitalized the CTC in an effort to counter declining worker productivity and high absenteeism. The CTC undertook initiatives in worker education, grievance committees became more active, and workers on the factory level began to take part in production decisions. The election of union officers became more open and democratic. New unions formed, and CTC membership rose to include 94 percent of Cuba's workforce.

See alsoPeña, Lázaroxml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Maurice Zeitlin, Revolutionary Politics and the Cuban Working Class (1967).

Rodolfo Riesgo, Cuba: El movimiento obrero en su entorno socio-político, 1865–1983 (1985).

Efrén córdova, Castro and the Cuban Labor Movement: Statecraft and Society in a Revolutionary Period (1959–1961) (1987).

Linda Fuller, "The State and the Unions in Cuba Since 1959," in Labor, Autonomy, and the State in Latin America, edited by Edward C. Epstein (1989), pp. 133-171.

Additional Bibliography

Alexander, Robert Jackson. A History of Organized Labor in Cuba. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002.

Córdova, Efrén. Clase trabajadora y movimiento sindical en Cuba. Miami, FL: Ediciones Universal, 1995–1996.

                              Steven S. Gillick