The Cuban Workers’ Federation wants to bring private-sector workers into its ranks and is studying the draft of the new Labor Code, which the minister responsible described as “revolutionary, novel, and up to date”
14ymedio, Havana, June 27, 2026 / “It is not a neoliberal package, nor is it a return to capitalism.” With that warning, Deputy Prime Minister – and great-grand-nephew of Fidel and Raul Castro – Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga presented the 176 economic and social reforms to the 22nd Congress of the Cuban Workers’ Federation (CTC) this Friday. The CTC is the island’s only legal trade union and one of the Communist Party’s main transmission belts.
The Government needs to expand the space for private business, attract foreign capital, decentralize decision-making, and allow new financial operations, while insisting that none of this alters the political foundations of the system. According to Perez-Oliva Fraga, the reform does not require amending the Constitution either.
The official, who also heads the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, stated that “if wealth is not generated, we cannot build the just society we want.” The statement amounts to an acknowledgment that the State no longer has sufficient resources to sustain its social policies, while avoiding any examination of the internal causes of the country’s productive collapse.
Among the standing priorities are control of the fiscal deficit, inflation, price regulation, and banking. The state plan projects a deficit of 74.5 billion pesos for 2026, of which 29.219 billion had already accumulated by the end of May. The Government has also authorized 91 foreign-currency self-financing schemes – a succession of exceptions that benefits companies able to generate hard currency without resolving the broader exchange-rate chaos.
Some of the reforms will begin to be implemented within the next 30 days. The timetable includes measures covering economic actors, the Central State Administration, the energy sector, agriculture, prices, wages, trade, catering, services, and the partial dollarization of the economy.
The program also envisages expanding private-sector participation in tourism, foreign trade, and the real estate sector, as well as facilitating foreign investment by Cubans living outside the island. Cooperatives will be permitted to import and sell fuel for their operations, seek external financing, and open bank accounts abroad.
The fine print will depend, however, on numerous regulations still pending. The Government has created a legal working group headed by Esteban Lazo, President of the National Assembly, and a separate “political and communications support” group led by the Party. While the former will be tasked with accelerating the drafting of implementing provisions, the latter will manage the public explanation of measures that may prove unpopular.
Perez-Oliva summed up the philosophy of the process as “unified direction with decentralization of responsibilities.” Havana will retain political command and strategic decision-making, while businesses, municipalities, and workers will be required to generate income and be held accountable for results.
The union, which represents 2,069,285 members, also aims to extend its presence into private-sector companies.
“The implementation of these reforms will not achieve the results we aspire to if our workers are not actively involved,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel told the delegates. The CTC will be expected to transform the government’s program into a political movement, explain it in workplaces, and accompany processes of “labor reorientation” – a term that may encompass layoffs, reassignments, workforce reductions, and the closure of unproductive entities.
The union, which represents 2,069,285 members, also aims to extend its presence into private-sector companies. The unionization of their employees was among the issues debated, alongside wages, productivity, support for retirees, and protection of workers’ rights. No explanation has been offered as to what capacity the CTC would have to stand up to a state or private employer, but it seems clear that workers will not be able to organize outside the Party-controlled federation.
The energy crisis even left its mark on the organization of the congress itself. Of the 759 delegates, 561 participated via videoconference and only 198 gathered in person at the Havana Convention Center. Nearly three in four union members were unable to attend in person the gathering convened to debate the country’s economic recovery.
Delegates also reviewed the draft new Labor Code, which will be submitted to the National Assembly in July. The Minister of Labor and Social Security, Jesus Otamendiz Campos, described the proposal as “revolutionary, novel, and suited to the present day.”
Monreal noted that the verb “to permit” appears 29 times in the document.
Among its new provisions are the exceptional admission to employment of adolescents aged 15 to 18, multiple job-holding, so-called “combined work,” and the possibility of setting workdays of less than eight hours with proportional pay. The authorities did not specify what types of work minors would be permitted to carry out, nor what safeguards would prevent poverty and family breakdown from pushing young people prematurely into the labor market.
Cuban economist Pedro Monreal questioned whether the list can be regarded as a coherent reform at all. The 176 measures are a “monster,” or “perhaps more of a misshapen hybrid,” he wrote on X. In his view, the Government is attempting to incorporate elements of a market economy without recognizing private property as a right protected against state power.
Monreal noted that the verb “to permit” appears 29 times in the document. “‘To permit’ is a permissive stance of power,” he observed, because it preserves the notion that private activity is a concession that the authorities can modify or withdraw.
“Nowhere in the 176 measures is it possible to identify any substantive recognition of the right to private property,” he added. Nor do any clear guarantees appear regarding commercial arbitration, claims, compensation, or dispute resolution.
The Government wants private actors to invest, generate wealth, and take on risks, but does not appear willing to legally limit the power that determines who may operate and under what conditions. The CTC will now be charged with bringing those entrepreneurs and workers into its ranks, while ensuring that the economic opening is not mistaken for a return to capitalism.
Translated by GH.
______________________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.