By Benjamin Noria

HOURS OF HAVANA – Professional motivation is the hope that workers derive from the development of their company or institution in their field and from their economic and commercial success. This in turn should give them a salary sufficient to cover their basic needs, unleash their potential and fulfill their dreams.

However, many workers in Cuban companies and public institutions spend all of their time on the phone talking about their private affairs. They’re already leaving their desks at noon anyway. When a person goes to a public cafe, they have to wait for the waiter / waitress to stop talking to a friend, for example, before being served.

The main reason is that the salary of a Cuban worker is not enough to cover his basic needs. It is not enough for them to buy clothes, shoes, pay for a cell phone, get food, an air conditioning unit or furniture, etc., and people just do not feel motivated to produce. in these circumstances.

According to Karl Marx, the salary must be sufficient to recover the energy of a worker and so that he can produce and reproduce his work.

A second reason is that a worker does not climb the professional ladder on the basis of his intelligence and his own merits. The Communist government does not like smart people, but rather obedient people, because smart people can oppose it.

The explanation for this phenomenon lies in the effects of totalitarianism. A centralized economy, a one-party state, its dogmatic / orthodox ideology and firm control of the media, army and police are obstacles to the production of goods and surplus value.

In addition, let us keep in mind that the rule of law does not exist in Cuba, which makes it impossible for the existence of mechanisms allowing citizens to demand and exercise their fundamental and human rights.

While it is true that no system in the world is perfect, capitalism has been able to meet the material, physical and spiritual needs of humans much more precisely, and it is also the fastest system for find solutions when problems arise such as water, food and vaccine shortages. Everything comes from freedom: freedom of creation, civil and political liberties, a free market economy.

Moreover, the reality is that the same Cubans who migrate to capitalist countries can then buy cars, pay their rent, their water and electricity bills, and they can also send funds to friends and family that they want. ‘they left in Cuba, with the wages they earn.

The Castro regime is a flawed system, in force for over 60 years, producing almost nothing and still using the same technology that the country used at the start of the Revolution. It is their fault that Cuba could only be a benchmark in the world for cigars and rum. Cuban workers become stunned in the workplace and their jobs become much more tedious with increased bureaucracy as the government adds double the paperwork for the same old processes and services.

The Cuban government deplores consumerism. According to them, having air conditioning in the home is a consumer trend, but their dogmatic ideology prevents them from realizing that air conditioning is not a luxury. In a tropical country like Cuba, with excruciating heat, air conditioning helps people sleep and rest better and as a result they will be able to do more at work.

The same goes for being able to have a glass of milk and a nice slice of bread with bacon and 100% pure coffee in the morning before going to work, which Cubans can’t even dream of.

Finally, labor efficiency is about producing and generating income from that production, but without a living wage that can give the welfare of the workers, there will be no kind of useful efficiency in this country.

Read more about Cuba here on Havana Times.