In a nationally televised roundtable discussion on the eve of the trade union gathering, CTC general secretary Pedro Ross outlined the main themes that the delegates would take up.
"The challenges for the union movement in the coming years are to maintain and consolidate the conquests of the revolution, the ideas of socialism, and to defend the power of the workers, students, and peasants," Ross said. In this framework, he added, working people in Cuba are seeking to maximize the productivity of their labor and efficient use of resources "without renouncing social justice, without layoffs, without neglecting workers' rights."
Ross also stressed the role of the unions in maintaining military preparedness to confront Washington's unceasing hostility and threats against the revolution. On the opening day of the CTC congress, many of the delegations marched into the convention center singing and chanting "Cuba sí, yanquis no" and other pro-revolution slogans. The crowd was a sea of olive green, with many delegates wearing the uniforms of the Territorial Troop Militias, to which hundreds of thousands of working people in Cuba belong.
"Why are we wearing the green uniform? The revolution that has been attacked by the most powerful government in the world cannot forget for one minute the defense of the country," Ross emphasized at the opening of the congress session.
The congress had been preceded by months of discussions in every workplace and union. A resolution known as the Theses, prepared by the CTC leadership for discussion by union members and presentation to the national congress, was taken up at CTC conferences in all 14 provinces.
The CTC meeting took place in the context of the progress Cuba has made in recovering from an economic and social crisis, known as the Special Period, sparked by the rapid collapse between 1989 and 1991 of the regimes and parties that had governed the Soviet bloc countries. The abrupt end to aid from and trade at favorable terms with these countries exposed Cuba more directly to the unequal exchange imposed by the imperialist-dominated world market. In face of acute shortages of essential goods and the consequent economic disruption, most projects to meet pressing social needs were shelved.
The day before the opening of the plenary sessions of the congress was devoted to meetings of 10 working commissions established by the CTC National Secretariat. Each one was responsible for considering proposals made in the precongress discussion. The topics ranged from the role of workers must play internationally "in face of neoliberal globalization" to strengthening the cooperative farms known here as Basic Units of Cooperative Production (UBPC).
In the main report to the congress, Ross pointed out that Cuba is economically and politically much stronger today than it was at the time of the last CTC congress in 1996. "Today we can not only talk about recovery. We can talk about development," he said.
Paid maternity leave is extended
The congress delegates made several decisions registering this progress. One was to adopt a proposal to extend paid leave for new mothers from six months to one year, effective immediately.
In the discussion on child-care centers, delegates had pointed out that with the Special Period, child-care accessibility declined sharply and that, given the shortage of spaces, having only six months' paid maternity leave was a problem.
Cuban president Fidel Castro, who attended the entire congress, asked delegates if it wouldn't be better to have a one-year maternity leave. The response was loud applause. The congress unanimously adopted the proposal.
"To me, the one-year maternity leave was the most important thing we've done at this congress," said Elieser Fonseca Aguilar, CTC general secretary in the town of Cueto in Holguín province. Many of the women delegates were in a celebratory mood after the decision.
Another decision, also on a suggestion by Castro, was to commit the CTC to expanding computer training programs to elementary schools in the most remote areas of the island, and prioritizing the necessary resources to do so.
Participating in the congress discussion, Hassan Pérez, president of the Federation of University Students (FEU), described a political campaign the FEU and the Union of Young Communists are waging. He pointed to the importance of the student brigades that have made thousands of visits to families in the poorest working-class neighborhoods in recent months. These students get to know the young people there and their relatives, and work together with them to solve some of the economic and social problems, such as lack of housing space, beds, access to sports programs, books, or other needs.
One question delegates discussed was how to deal with petty crime. CTC leaders such as Ross have argued that workers should deal with theft and other acts of petty crime through the unions, when they happen on the job, or through "preventive" work with young people in neighborhoods--as opposed to sending people to jail.
"I think this is important," said Vladímir Cruz, who works as a guard in a tobacco warehouse in Sancti Spiritus, "because jail kills the human spirit. It's much better to talk to young people about getting their life together, getting an education. Our organizations--from the CDRs to the unions--are working together on this." The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) are neighborhood-based mass organizations.
The congress concluded with the election of a National Council, a National Secretariat, and officers.
On May Day, besides the mobilization in Havana, hundreds of thousands of working people marched in cities across the island from Pinar del Río to Guantánamo.