Since the beginning of the Ordering Task in the country, an increase has been noted in the number of individuals visiting these offices in search of work. “On average, we have observed that young people under 35 years of age represent 34% of those looking to join the workforce, and of the total number of people who accept the positions proposed, women represent 38%,” stated Enit Martínez González, director of Informatics at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS), speaking with Granma.

“To date, 81,054 persons have been assisted, and 50% have accepted the offers we made. Of the vacant positions available, 65% are in the state sector, with the enterprise system predominating,” the young specialist reports.

When asked about other sectors seeking employees, Martínez stated that the non-state sector accounts for 35%. More than 2,000 persons have been offered jobs with agricultural cooperatives, representing 17% of the positions accepted in the non-state sector.

Another important development is that the application developed by the mtss information technology department, staffed by young experts eager to contribute to improving the Ministry’s services to the population, has already been downloaded some 74,872 times since January 28, when it was made available to users.

“The Ministry of Labor has been closely monitoring our listing of offers to ensure that it is as up to date as possible, to provide more effective services for the people,” Martínez emphasized.

Management reports that never before has the stalking room at Pinar del Rio’s Niñita Valdés tobacco processing center been so full. Of the 130 positions available, to sort and classify leaves for export, in the past at most a hundred were filled, and many by workers who do not come every day.

“Some request sick days, others go on leave, so we always have vacant positions,” reported administrator Yaquelín Morejón.

She notes, however, that interest in employment has been awakened since the re-ordering began, and that these first weeks of its implementation have been very positive for the center.

“The impact has been tremendous. Just imagine, we were having a hard time hiring production workers, and today we are at full capacity,” she said.

Among those who have joined the workforce at the Pinar del Río center is Ana Lidia Ricardo, a young accountant, who had previously preferred to stay home, given the low salaries being offered.

“I worked before, but left because they paid very little and it was not enough for anything,” she confessed.

Like Ana, more than 900 individuals have found employment, over the last month, in tobacco processing centers in Pinar del Río.

Victor Fidel Hernandez Perez, the Ministry of Agriculture’s provincial representative, explained that this injection of labor is very valuable since the tobacco industry contributes a significant amount of hard currency to the country’s economy.

The shortage of workers, traditionally female in selection and stalking of tobaccos leaves, has been a problem for some time, delaying the processing of leaves, leading to extra expenses for their conservation and affecting quality.

He reported that more than a third of last year’s harvest, some 8,000 tons, are still in storage across the province, waiting to be processed.

This is a reality that is repeated year after year, that requires appealing to persons employed in other sectors, to support the processing of tobacco leaf with voluntary work days.

The fact that hundreds of Pinar del Río residents have joined this workforce over the last few weeks, has created a much more favorable situation.

Interest in these positions has grown so sharply that the availability of benches (a kind of table where workers sort leaves) has been exhausted, requiring a special effort to quickly construct and install more, Hernandez reported.

Although the tobacco industry has welcomed the largest number of new workers in Pinar del Río, it is not the only sector that has benefitted from renewed interest in jobs since the implementation of monetary re-ordering.

Jorge Luis Salas Rosette, the provincial government’s coordinator of economic programs and objectives, reported that 5,393 persons have inquired about jobs during the last month, and 2,997 accepted positions offered.

According to the official, the figure exceeds several times over what has been recorded during an entire year, in the recent past, and includes a significant number of young people (1,339) and women (1,228).

“This volume of applications is totally out of the ordinary,” he stated. “There were always people looking for work, but not in these numbers, or over such a short period of time.”

Across the rest of the country, the picture is similar. Oscar Sanamé Véliz, director of Labor and Social Security in the provincial capital of Camagüey, commented that, since January 1, there has been an increase in the influx of job seekers.

In previous years, some ten to 15 people a day visited the central office, today the figure exceeds 40, he said.

In an effort to speed up procedures, offices were opened in the city’s 19 People’s Councils, to undertake the process of assisting citizens in vulnerable situations, due to insufficient household income, and those in search of a job.

According to the official, 1,896 persons (63% of the total across the province) were seeking work and of these, 1,557 have been placed in enterprises or state-budgeted centers, as well as the non-state sector of the economy.

“The rest,” he explained, “did not accept the job offers, because they did not find them to their liking or decided to wait for another alternative more in line with their personal expectations.”

The largest number of placements were in agriculture, construction and public health, in addition to security and protection.

The principal investment projects underway in the province, including the 26th of July Cement Factory in Nuevitas and tourist development on Cayo Cruz, north of the municipality of Esmeralda, have been able to add to their skilled workforces.

During the last session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, commented that two aspects of the monetary re-ordering would come together to generate additional motivation for work: increased salaries and the elimination of excessive subsidies and gratuities.

Both factors, he said, would oblige many unemployed persons to seek a reliable source of income to meet their expenses. A few weeks before “zero hour,” when implementation began, his words were confirmed in real life.

During a recent series of tours around the country, President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez noted that the population is “realizing that working is a necessity, to have an income and be able to lead a decent life with their families.”

In view of this reality, he warned that increasing employment in the productive and service sectors is essential, especially in areas linked to the strategic axes of economic and social development.

At the same time, he emphasized the importance of providing effective responses and ensuring that no one looking for a job fails to find one. This is precisely one of the challenges facing those conducting the re-ordering, he said. Now management (and the Ordering Task itself) faces the challenge of retaining workers who have joined their staffs, making sure that incentives exist, to avoid a setback in one of the successes of the process thus far.

(Taken from Granma)

The Council of Ministers, led by its President, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, has approved a group of measures to launch an economic strategy based on taking maximum advantage of domestic capacity and human potential within the country.

The President explained that – based on government visits to the provinces, the population’s opinions, proposals in congresses like that of the Federation of Cuban Workers, and addressing the problems facing the economy aggravated by the hostile policy of the U.S. government – for several months a work group including academic specialists in economic sciences systematically discussed the decisions that are now approved by the highest body of the country’s government.

Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil Fernández stated that, in general, the measures “are focused on providing a greater response to the needs of the population and the economy, encouraging the active participation of all actors in the search for solutions and ways to confront the economic siege imposed on us by the United States government.”

The goal is that what has been designed will not only stimulate savings, and promote development, but also allow progress to continue on fundamental questions to generate more favorable conditions for the Cuban economy’s performance.
He commented that the measures essentially seek to defend national production; diversify and increase exports; substitute imports with domestic products; strengthen the state enterprise; advance in food sovereignty; promote local development; implement the Housing Policy; and put science at the service of resolving problems.

All this, he emphasized, requires the use of methods and work styles far removed from formalism and bureaucracy, using a comprehensive approach, to contribute to making decisions adopted by the government more effective.

Gil Fernández explained that the measures, which will be put into practice gradually, address dissimilar issues, including an increase in national production; municipal self-sufficiency; local development projects; investments; retail sales; and the promotion of agricultural production.

He noted as fundamental the role of cadres at all levels and their training. He likewise described as imperative, “concretizing changes related to the country’s institutionality, since changes have been made in the economic model, yet we continue working with basically the same institutional structures.”

INCREASES IN SALARIES FOR THE BUDGETED SECTOR AND PENSIONS

“This is not the final salary increase we are heading toward, but it is significant enough given the conditions in which we find ourselves,” the President of the Councils of State and Ministers emphasized, referring to the salary increase for the budgeted sector.

Photo: Estudios Revolución
The goal is, he said, that this decision will begin to be implemented in the month of July, so that, before the end of the summer, workers will receive the first benefits.

In this regard, the Minister of Economy and Planning explained that the minimum salary in the budgeted sector will increase to 400 pesos and the average monthly salary will rise to 1,067, saying, “This measure includes 1,470,736 workers in Central State Administration agencies, local People’s Power bodies, organizations and associations, and has an estimated annual cost of 7,050,000 pesos.”

In the case of Social Security, taking into account increases made to the minimum pension in November of 2018, this remains at 242 pesos. Other persons who at that time did not receive an increase, and have pensions below 500 pesos, will benefit from the approval of these new measures, which will favor 1,281,523 persons, at an estimated annual cost of 700 million pesos.

Meanwhile, Social Assistance will not change, given the increase provided in November of 2018, when the minimum amount was established as 217 pesos.

Minister of Finances and Prices Meisi Bolaños Weiss additionally explained that the application of the Special Contribution to Social Security will be extended to workers in the budgeted sector, in line with the principle that all contribute to the financing of expenses to provide these benefits, saying, “This rate will be 2.5% for those with monthly incomes of up to 500 pesos, and 5% for those with salaries greater than 500 pesos.”

Likewise, it was explained that the cost of this salary increase must not increase the State Budget deficit approved for 2019. In this regard, it is imperative that measures be taken to make savings and strictly control expenses, in both budgeted and non-budgeted activities, while collecting all income generated, and taking advantage of all potential and reserves present in the economy.

In terms of the enterprise sector, the Minister of Economy and Planning recalled that in 2014, the approval of pay per performance regimens was decentralized. The allocation and distribution of salaries was linked to meeting specific indicators and administrative restrictions were eliminated. As a result, he said, the average salary had increased from 600 to 871 pesos by the end of 2018.

Despite the positive impact of these measures, the Minister noted that difficulties persist. Thus the Council of Ministers agreed to perfect pay per performance mechanisms in the enterprise sector, maintaining the link with production results, which will be implemented beginning in 2020.

Among the incentives, he emphasized the granting of authority to approve salary systems to enterprise directors, always prioritizing individual productivity wherever possible, and maintaining growth in earnings before taxes (compared to previous periods) as an indicator considered in enterprise pay for performance plans.

With the goal of avoiding the inflationary effect of the measures, he emphasized that the Minister of Finances and Prices will have the necessary mechanisms throughout the economy to mitigate possible price increases.

In this regard, the President noted that involved ministries must establish observatory mechanisms to stay abreast of prices, and of how consumption evolves, “So that we have time to rectify any element to prevent inflation.”

He likewise called for stimulating sales of food, construction materials, tourist packages, and offers made by the Cuban Telecommunications Enterprise, Etecsa, for example. In summary, he said, let’s all think about new options.

Díaz-Canel highlighted the need to be rational in filling staff positions. The person employed must be the one who will produce the most, because the measures are not meant to throw money around, but to give an incentive to those who work and contribute more, he said.

He likewise insisted that, from now on, cadres must be well trained to avoid erroneous interpretations, and systematic follow-up on developments around these issues must be provided.

The intention of this group of measures, he commented, is to strengthen the country’s development and confront the current difficult situation. Not all will be put into effect immediately, since they require more analysis and work.

Over the next few days, via different press media, our population will receive more detailed information on the scope of these decisions.

(Granma)