
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguin, 20 January 2025 — Employees of state-owned companies in Holguín are going through uncertain times. The successive staff reductions seem to have no end and another cut is expected in the month of February. The most affected entities are those linked to food production and processing, hit by low agricultural and livestock production, sources in the sector confirmed to 14ymedio.
“Every time I go to work I think that it will be the last day I will go.” With more than 20 years at the Felipe Fuentes Fernández Meat Combine, belonging to the Holguín Meat Company, Gerardo, age 45, is one of the most veteran employees of the state entity. However, his permanence in his position hangs by a thread. “Last year there was a staff reduction and they already announced another one for February. Right now we are about 200 workers and that number could be halved.”
The reason for the staff cuts is “the low number of animals to process,” Gerardo says. “We spent almost all of last year with our arms crossed because we weren’t getting any cattle. During that time, they put us to mow green areas and do beautification work in the surroundings, but the meat itself, we hardly touched it.”
In 2023 alone, more than 7,400 heads of cattle were lost in the province due to theft and illegal slaughter
The company receives mainly cattle farmers from Holguín must deliver as part of their commitments with the state monopoly Acopio. Although the quantity is agreed upon at the beginning of each year, it is increasingly common for producers to fail to comply with the agreement and justify their cuts based on the drought, the lack of animal feed and the scourge of theft and illegal slaughter of their livestock.
In 2023 alone, more than 7,400 heads of cattle were lost in the province due to theft and illegal slaughter, according to data provided by the local newspaper ¡Ahora!. In total, taking into account other factors such as terrain conditions, diseases and feed, of the 307,053 heads that the province had in January of that year, 38,319 were culled in just eleven months.
Of these cattle “discounted” from the provincial inventory, 19% corresponded to crimes of theft and illegal slaughter, while 52% were classified as deaths due to different factors. This resulted in the loss of almost three million tons of meat and more than 4.5 million liters of milk that could have been dedicated to the population’s consumption.
“Our company supplies tourists, maternity homes and hospitals,” Gerardo continues. “When the animals arrive, they are separated into ’prime cattle’ for hotels and those for social orders, but now we lack cattle for both destinations, so most of the hotels in this province are stocking up on imported products that give them more stability in supply and higher quality, while we cannot meet our social commitments either.”
“During that time without animals, we painted, we did maintenance, we looked like a construction brigade”
“During that time without animals, we painted, we did maintenance, we looked like a construction brigade instead of workers from a place where pot roast, mincemeat, ribs, steaks and even bones are produced.” Towards the end of last year “a few animals came in, all quite thin, because the guajiros say they have almost no food to give them. On the days when we received the most, there were 15 or 20 cows, when a few years ago there were more than 100 each day.”
The discontent over the cuts in the workforce is worsening at the Combinado because “they are not reducing the administrative and management staff equally, here they are removing workers from the corrals, refrigerators, slaughterhouse and packing plant areas but in the offices no one has been touched. The bureaucrats will remain in their chairs and those of us in the production area are the most affected.”
Another of the state-owned companies that is failing on all sides and preparing to cut staff is the main poultry slaughterhouse in the province, located in San Rafael Adentro, at kilometer 5 and a half on the Mayarí highway. “This company never had 15 workers,” says Yaquelín, one of the employees who expects to be removed from the workforce in a few days, when the new layoffs are announced.
“We belong to the Ministry of Agriculture and we are among the companies where workers have the lowest salaries,” the employee explained to this newspaper. “Here, most salaries do not exceed 2,500 pesos a month, and you cannot even buy a carton of eggs* with that money.” “They are going to reduce positions and the equipment, such as the executives’ cars, and they will be moved to the main headquarters of the Provincial Poultry Company.”
“We were told that 50% of the workers would stay, now there are about 60 of us so maybe 30 will stay.” So far, the workers have received the offer to be relocated as security personnel in other companies linked to the poultry sector. “I have already done several night shifts, as preparation, in an egg warehouse belonging to Acopio, but I am not going to stay in that position because it is dangerous and at night you can’t even see your hands.”
In the middle of last year, the slaughterhouse was in the news because at least 54,000 laying hens had to be slaughtered on the premises due to the impossibility of keeping them because of the lack of animal feed. “Before, you would pass by these sheds and the sound of the animals would barely let you hear what another worker was saying,” Yaquelín says. Now silence spreads, and with that calm fear also spreads among the workers. “This is going to end up dismantled if it continues like this.”
*Translator’s note: This is literally true. Eggs are sold in cartons of 30, which currently cost about 3,500 pesos.
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