U.S.: Nations should demand labor standards in Cuba [View All]

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/382480.html

The Bush administration says countries should lean on Cuba to demand higher labor standards.

Posted on Thu, Jan. 17, 2008

BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON --
The U.S. State Department is asking foreign governments to demand greater respect for labor rights from foreign companies that operate in Cuba, U.S. officials say.

Castro opponents say Cuba violates internationally accepted labor practices and foreign firms should not do business there much the same as when many companies balked at investing in apartheid South Africa. In Cuba, companies can't hire or pay workers directly but must go through a state agency, which pockets the lion's share of the wages.

The issue is controversial because there is talk of suing foreign firms in the United States because of the labor abuses. In the 1990s, Cuban dissident Gustavo Arcos proposed minimum labor standards for foreign investors to operate on the island, such as hiring directly without political discrimination and allowing Cubans access to hotels and beaches.

''We've talked to governments how they might use economic engagement to push for greater freedoms,'' Kirsten Madison, the deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said Tuesday. ``We've specifically talked to governments about the Arcos principles.''

Since Fidel Castro became ill in July of 2006, the State Department has embarked on a campaign to have countries bring more pressure on Cuba to enact democratic reforms.

''We hope that working in concert we can help define a shared expectation in the international community of what a transition in Cuba should look like,'' she told a gathering at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, noting most countries agree Cuba should free political prisoners.

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