Call to May Day: A living, united and victorious Homeland

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 12 (ACN) The organization of Cuban Trade Unions (CTC) call our people to celebrate International Workers' Day, preceded by the historic days of the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, which has become another resounding demonstration of our unwavering decision to carry forward the Revolution with the united effort of all Cuban patriots. Its agreements will be a guiding beacon of the workers’ endeavor to continue the implementation of the profound changes that we have set out to make as part of the steps to update our Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development.

This time, the May Day celebration will be held virtually under the banner United We Make Cuba and headed by our workers' collectives and communities, whose display of creativity and multiple initiatives will reflect the joy, responsibility and commitment of the trade union movement, engaged together with the workers in the decisive battle to advance and achieve the required economic efficiency, with stress on food production.

We the workers are aware of the complex and challenging scenario facing us, marked by the criminal, unjustified and inhumane economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed unilaterally by the United States Government and intensified with the implementation of more than 240 new measures as well as by the effects of a global pandemic. Both have had a negative impact on our economy and led to a shortage of supplies in the domestic market, rising prices, and reductions of the purchasing power of wages, which has brought industrial production to either a standstill or irregular operation schedules and slowed down our development programs.

In order to overcome these obstacles, we draw inspiration from the deeply rooted conviction that only those who fight, resist and do not give up have the right to succeed and from the solid consensus that the success of our economic strategy is only possible with more creative and innovative management using the available resources and resorting, above all, to our efforts.

At the same time, we have made substantial changes to our labor structure with the approval of measures aimed at providing greater autonomy to the socialist state enterprise, implementing a new policy to improve of the non-state sector and launching Task Ordering. As a whole, all these steps become strengths and respond to the agreements of the XXI Congress of the CTC without failing to recognize that we still have insufficiencies.

This May Day will also be an important scenario to ratify the testimony of gratitude to the workers of Health and Science, for their consecration and contribution to the care of Cubans as well as of citizens from more than 46 countries and to the compatriots who worked and are still working continue on a voluntary basis in isolation centers, in research and in the assistance of vulnerable sectors of the population.

It will be an occasion to recognize those who have continued working in the production of the country’s primary sectors; teachers and professors whose praiseworthy efforts have allowed to use teleclass education to keep our teaching program going; artists and writers who offer their works online as they cope with smear campaigns against the Revolution and its cultural institutions.

As we do every May Day, we will make clear our solidarity with workers and union organizations around the world that fall victim to neoliberal policies and stand out firmly for justice and their labor rights and social benefits.

Workers all:
The activities to celebrate World Proletariat Day will ratify before the world the commitment of the majority of the Cuban people to carry forward our socialist project, inspired by Marti and Fidel.

We will once again send the message to every corner of the planet that Cuba will always be a living, united and victorious Homeland.
Long live International Workers' Day!
To victory, always!
CTC National Secretariat