HAVANA, Cuba. – When the Military Constructions Union finally hired young William –the leading stonemason in a masons’ brigade charged with building many Havana hotels- in October 2019, they promised him a monthly wage of more than 10,000 Cuban pesos (approximately US$ 400 at the official exchange rate, or US$ 150 at the real exchange rate on the street). However, in the signed contract, there was only mention of a base salary of 785 Cuban pesos (CUP) plus an additional payment based “on results”. According to the company’s norms, this supplementary payment could increase his base salary tenfold.
The truth is that, in the three years he worked there, the young, 24-year-old worker has never made more than 5,000 CUP per month, even when he is considered one of the best workers in his group, one who works an average of 300 hours per month. This means 10-hour work days, a schedule that’s way above the 8-hour work day established by current labor legislation in Cuba.
According to William –on condition of anonymity, for fear of losing his job as punishment for speaking to independent journalists- he arrived at UCM in April 2017 as a compulsory military service recruit. After the first two months of military training –which in Cuba is known as “start-up” training- he was assigned to a military construction brigade where he labored until he was demobilized from the Armed Forces in March 2019.
Due to his masonry skills, he was given the possibility of working in construction for the tourism sector while retaining his status as soldier. This allowed him to fulfill military duty far away from the strict discipline of army camps. He enjoyed almost the same freedom of movement as civilians did after they met their daily work schedule, but without the financial benefits enjoyed by civilians.
“Soldiers assigned to construction practically get paid with their daily pass,” states William. “The salary is practically symbolic. In 2017, the salary was 254 pesos per month; we worked from Monday to Saturday, 12 hours a day (…) from dawn to dusk, into the wee hours of the morning (…). I joined UCM when the Packard Hotel was almost completed; I worked there for weeks non-stop: there was no Sunday or Mothers’ Day or any such thing. (…) Civilians could get away [with a lighter load] more or less, but us soldiers were sometimes assigned 24-hour shifts without rest; we would try to sneak in five minutes of sleep here and there behind the boss’s back. Once, I tied myself with rope to the scaffolding so as not to fall down, and I got some sleep. No one would imagine that I’d be sleeping up there (…). I was chubby. I joined the construction weighing 180 pounds, and during the three months I worked at the Packard site I went down to 152 pounds. That should give you an idea of how things were; snacks and meals were worse than dogfood, and when they were more or less edible, we would go down to the Malecón (the seawall boulevard) and sell it.” This is how the young worker describes his experience.
The harsh experience that William narrates is from four years ago, when the economic situation was much better than it is in 2021 due in large part to the pandemic. Workers under contract today with the state companies that are building for the tourism sector probably face worse working conditions. Hotel construction did not stop even in the worst period of the coronavirus pandemic, not even in the face of the public health system collapsing for lack of resources.
According to other statements gathered by CubaNet, the labor exploitation of army recruits, low salaries and unpaid civilian wages continue to be the day-to-day reality at the military’s construction companies. The situation is becoming unbearable amidst the additional inflation and [food and basic items] shortages. This is responsible for the rising desertion rate among workers, which is rendering the workforce unstable.
“There was a salary increase and some of the prohibitions were eliminated regarding pay scale, but in reality, when it comes to salaries, things have remained almost the same,” according to a human resources officer at UCM who, like William, is afraid of reprisals for talking to the independent press.
“Ten new masons join the workforce, and that same day 15 others ask to be relieved from duty. An engineer comes in, and lasts two days, barely (…). It’s not just that the wages are miserable, but also that the company withholds them for months. They don’t pay-up and every day they require more. (…) Nothing has changed at UCM. Army recruits are being paid the same way as before, except that now they are no longer given their work clothes. (As for the civilian workers) their uncollected wages keep accumulating. This October, the companies are trying to pay wages that have been pending since November [2019] until February 2020.There are civilian workers that just left their jobs with 500 or 600 pesos, when that money solves nothing in today’s economy. (…) And I’ll tell you more: there are workers who are still waiting to get paid from when they worked at the Paseo del Prado (Hotel), which was inaugurated in 2019 (…), and we have cases of workers who have died and their families are still waiting to hear on their claims, and workers who have retired and are still waiting for their back pay.”
Regarding those late payments, we were able to contact several workers who find themselves on the same boat. One of them, whom we will call Boris so as not to reveal his true identity, was one of the electricians that worked for UCM in the construction of the Paseo del Prado Hotel, in Havana.
Boris tells us about the ordeal he has faced in the last few months while trying to collect past wages on the construction of a hotel that was inaugurated months ago with great fanfare, and which will reopen [with the nation’s tourism] as programmed on November 15th.
“I asked to be relieved from duty in January this year. A group of us created a cooperative where we are doing better and where at least we see the money. (…) I have gone to UCM thousands of times to claim my past wages, and all I get is the runaround. (…) When I left, they owed me 22,000 pesos, now they tell me they only owe me 12,000. They are shameless. Where are my other 10,000 pesos? Who pocketed my money? (…) I’ve filed a claim because I worked for that money. It means weeks that I didn’t sleep, I had no week-ends, because they wanted the hotel to be completed yesterday. We didn’t even get a certificate. They said we would be invited to the inauguration, but nothing of the kind happened. The only people who went were the bosses and the Union people,” according to Boris, who also reveals details about the working conditions under the military.
“That whole operation is military. Even though you are a civilian, you are treated as if you were part of the military. They tell you to show up on National Defense Day, and you better show up, or you’ll get fired and won’t get paid. That’s supposed to be a day when you do military exercises, but you are assigned to volunteer work instead. They make it up as they go: today is such-and-such day, tomorrow is this-and-that day, and those are days for which you are not paid (…), and the Union is there to make sure you keep your mouth shut so that when you do collect your wages, they can ask you for money. It’s no wonder they can build luxury hotels,” states the former employee.
The Military Constructions Union, together with Almest construction and real estate company, have always been presented by the Cuban regime as an example of how well the military corporate system works, compared with the [alleged] chaos ascribed to civilian companies. They are, however, the principal companies for executing tourism projects, taking up close to 90% of total tourism-sector investments. According to several Cuban officials that CubaNet consulted, both companies contribute the largest volume of cheap labor to those construction projects, with tens of thousands of workers, many of whom are army recruits, fulfilling mandatory military service, or workers under contract from the poorest areas of the country, where stable incomes are more difficult to find.
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