Basic Labor Justice Organs, Essential for the Strengthening of the Discipline

From mid-February to June 30, the Cuban trade union movement carries out a process of renewal or ratification of those who integrate this system of justice

By: Carlos Heredia Reyes

The improvement of the performance of the Labor Justice Organs (OJL) is of vital importance for the strengthening of labor discipline and the realization of the rights of workers contained in Cuban legislation.

From mid-February to June 30, the trade union movement carries out a process of renewal or ratification of those who make up this justice system in the production and service entities, which will be made up of: a workers’ representative, one from the administration and one union leader.

The OJL have existed since 1992 and are the primary and compulsory body in the solution of labor disputes, since it allows the work groups themselves to deal with and solve the vast majority of disputes arising from the decisions taken by employers.

In accordance with the Regulations of the Labor Code, approved by Decree No. 326 of June 12, 2014, its members are elected or appointed for a period of two and a half years, and they are responsible for providing justice and not reconciling a priori criteria or interests of the parties to the conflict.

It is a prejudicial body because it resolves workers’ claims as a prerequisite and mandatory requirement to use the judicial process in legally established cases, therefore, it does not act as a disciplinary commission of the center, nor as a conciliatory body.

They are the primary and final instance for a set of disciplinary and primary measures only for those measures that modify the worker’s employment status and conflicts over other rights, as stated in his article The Cuban Labor Justice System – Notes and Reflections, the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Central University Marta Abreu de Las Villas, Fernando de Jesus Echerri Ferrandiz, specialist in Legal Consultancy.

Thus, they are responsible for knowing the individual conflicts referred to dissatisfactions of the workers with the disciplinary measures applied by the authorities of the entities, except for the separation of the sector or activity.

OJLs must also act in the event of non-observance of current legislation regarding hiring, salary payment, payment of sickness and accident subsidies, annual holidays paid, work and rest time and other work rights established in the legislation; and for disagreement with the promotion at the initiative of the employer of the pension file by age and with the right to relocation and modification of the job to adapt it to the limitations of the worker in partial disability.

Other moments in which its role is needed is in cases of disputes for licensing and payment of economic and social benefits for maternity of the worker, paid or non-paid licenses in accordance with the provisions of current legislation; and claims about the labor rights of workers who are disconnected from the entity in question, when they are presented within the term of up to 180 calendar days after the occurrence of the alleged violation of their rights.

The OJL are constituted in the entities that have 50 or more workers, in consultation with the union at that level, taking into account the average number of workers, work shifts and the territorial location of the organizational structures in the municipality.

When in a municipality there are work centers with less than 50 workers that depend on the same entity, a territorial body can be constituted among them.

Labor directors control the constitution and training of labor justice bodies, together with the union at their level and the directors of the entities.

The provincial and municipal work divisions are not an instance of dispute resolution, nor can legally rely on the solution of any claim of their action, so the complaints that arise for the performance of the body, must be processed and timely decisions must be taken for their quick solution.

In cases where there is no OJL where the worker can submit his claim or the one that corresponds is incomplete or disintegrated, the Labor Directorate designates another body prior coordination with the aforementioned, to prevent the worker from doing unnecessary procedures and the delaying or violation of the terms.

According to article 174 of the Labor Code, the decisions of the bodies responsible for the resolution of labor disputes are binding on the parties. It also establishes that the organs cannot adopt decisions that imply a violation of the legality, resignation or modification of the rights recognized in favor of the workers.

Recently, Gisela Duarte Vázquez, a member of the national secretariat of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), which deals with labor and social issues, said that at the end of the current process of renewal or ratification of the OJL it is necessary that each worker knows where he has to address himself in case of a claim of law or discipline.

Translated by ESTI