Cuban ‘slave labour’ built Argyle?

From Guatemala to Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean region, the stories abound that the United States government is applying pressure to these countries to end what it refers to as the exploitation of Cuban professionals. However, is there any merit in the claim by the United States government? In SVG, for example, was Argyle built by Cuban “slave labour”?

To justify the question, we present the following:

May 4, 2009, Parliament of SVG. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves responds to a question asked by opposition MP, Godwin Friday, on behalf of Opposition leader Arnhim Eustace:

“… there were 127 persons employed on the Argyle International Airport Project. Of these 127 persons, 85 are Vincentian nationals. Sixty-five of whom are employed directly by the International Airport Development Company, and 20 employed by the Total Protection Security Services, a local firm that provide security services on the Argyle airport project.

“The other 42 workers on the project are Cuban engineers, technicians and equipment operators… Mr. Speaker, let me just point out something. The Cubans who are working on that site are working now 12 hours a day. The period in excess of eight hours, they get absolutely nothing for it. And they work seven days a week. They only have one day free a month.

“They have decided to work that, to speed up, to make up for lost time last year because of the bad weather. I want to repeat. The Cuban brothers and sisters who are out there, their overtime they get absolutely no stipend nor remuneration. Now, you may ask what about our Vincentian workers. Naturally they are paid for their overtime.”

Aug. 13, 2009, Parliament of SVG. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves responds to a question asked by opposition leader Arnhim Eustace:

“At present, there are 42 Cuban — engineers, technicians and equipment operators, working on the project alongside 85 Vincentians. These Cuban workers are being paid only a fraction of what they would normally earn for work elsewhere. In fact, our Vincentian employees are being paid much higher wages, and of course, this is understandable.

“The Cuban workers came here as a form of solidarity with us in building the airport. The stipend paid to them and the funds remitted on their behalf to Cuba are only a fraction of what they would normally be paid for similar work in other parts of the world where they are on contract.

“But all of this has a value too. I am coming to where Venezuela is involved with the payment here…. Similarly, the labour which is being provided, including the technical skills, very little money is being spent on them, because the arrangements which we have with the Ministry of Construction with the Cuban Government.”

Jan. 29, 2010, Parliament of SVG (Budget wrap up) “… the simple fact is this: they do not know how to build it and that without the Unity Labour Party and the leadership of the Unity Labour Party and the manner we have gone about it, it never would have gotten off the ground.

“The earthworks — the value of the earthworks thus far is $81 million but we have spent $22.5 million. The reason why, is because of what we get in kind.

“You take, for instance, the Cuban workers, they work 12 hours a day, 30 days out of 31 in the month, they get one Sunday off, which means that each of them, when they work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, they work 28 hours more a week than usual and they do not get any stipend or any overtime. That is free. Twenty-eight hours is 3½ working days and there are about 50 of them. One can see immediately the value which they are giving, plus, of course, all the other free things in terms of their technical assistance, which they have given.”

Aug. 11,2011, Parliament of SVG – PM Gonsalves responding to a question asked by Opposition Leader Eustace:

“Mr. Speaker, I want to say this, that we must remember that the Cuban workers they are volunteers with a stipend. For the time being they are paid by the IADC. The amount they receive directly or paid to Cuba on their behalf is only a fraction of what they would normally command if they were hired as workers in the open job market. In fact, many of the junior engineers employed by IADC are being paid more than two times what we pay for an experienced Cuban engineer. Similarly, the amount we pay under contract for engineers from CESSY Engineering Consultants, an overseas engineering construction company, is more than four times what we are currently paying for a similarly trained and qualified Cuban engineer.”

Having presented these exhibits, one may agree that it is a justified question to ask if slave labour built Argyle. Here we had Cuban engineers, some or all senior, working up to 12 hours per day, with one Sunday off in the month. They were collecting a stipend directly or paid to the Cuban government, of an amount that was less than twice what a junior Vincentian engineer made. Not only that, while the Cubans worked endless overtime for which they were not paid, other workers collected overtime. They were also only off work for one day in the month. All other days were working days, for up to 12 hours per day.

Let’s cross this against any labour standard, in any democratic country, and see how it holds up. We seemingly obeyed local labour laws for Vincentian workers, paying them overtime for anything over 8 hours, but we didn’t do it for the Cubans.

Even though their work was “in kind”, what do the labour laws say about working practically every day for 12 hours per day? After all, these were humans, and not machines. Have SVG and other countries exploited and taken advantage of the good nature and gesture of the Cubans? Is the current US government correct in its assessment that the Cuban people are or were being exploited by countries within the Caribbean region and beyond? Did “slave labour” build Argyle?

Observer

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