Launch of CSC's Trade Union Newsletter

This week we launched our new Cuba Solidarity Campaign trade union newsletter Trade Unions for Cuba. Union affiliates and individual CSC members will be accustomed to receiving their quarterly copy of CubaSí magazine, but the new bulletin will concentrate on trade union news and campaigning actions. Trade Unions for Cuba will be published electronically approximately every three months and will satisfy the hunger for topical Cuba news between issues of CubaSí.

The newsletter aims to celebrate collaboration between CSC, British trade unions and trade unions in Cuba. It will bring up-to-date news on trade unionism in Cuba, report on CSC work with unions domestically, mobilise campaigns and promote events, brigades and tours.

The first issue includes a report on WikiLeaks revelations which show the success of the CSC and trade union campaign against the Hilton Hotels in 2007. British trade unions – including the GMB and Unison – played a crucial role in boycotting Hilton due to their refusal to accommodate Cuban guests and the WikiLeaks cables show that our campaign reached the highest levels of the U.S government. 

Unison young activists Lisa and Vikki with
Dennis Doody, UCATT rep on CSC EC



It also includes a report on CSC’s presence at trade union conferences this year and features a story of three young activists – Vikki Garratty, Lisa Scott and Geri Cowell – who took part in CSC’s May Day Brigade this year. According to Vikki, the Brigade was “one of the best experiences of my life” and the newsletter applauds the work the three campaigners have done supporting solidarity with Cuba and fundraising for CSC since their return. A big thanks to all those who contributed at Unison’s Young Members’ Weekend in Cardiff!

The core objective of the newsletter, however, is to enhance understanding of Cuba, promote campaigning work and increase union affiliations to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. The report on the visit of Tony Woodley – former Unite General Secretary – to a Miami 5 meeting in Los Angeles demonstrates that the British trade union movement has been crucial in the campaign to free the Miami 5 by securing the support of American unions such as the United Service Workers, the United Steel Workers and the Teamsters.

It is only through union support that this was possible and it is therefore imperative to build on the already fantastic relationship which CSC enjoys with the trade union movement. If your union branch or region isn’t already affiliated to the Campaign, we hope you will consider joining online or by emailing Dan Smith. Affiliation costs just £40 for a branch and £50 for a region.

A hi-res version of the newsletter can be viewed here. Please feel free to forward to colleagues or print-off and distribute around notice boards and offices. If you would like to receive future copies, please email CSC Campaigns Officer Dan Smith.

Wikileaks show campaign against Hilton Hotels hit home

Recently released U.S diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks reveal the success of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and British trade union campaign against the Hilton Group’s ban on Cuban nationals staying in their hotels in 2007.

Leaked cables report on the U.S hotel chain’s response to a boycott of its hotels by the GMB and Unison trade unions. In correspondence to Hilton Hotels International, the GMB made is quite clear that:

…discriminating on legal grounds, which includes nationalities, in the provision of goods, facilities or services is unlawful under the 1976 Race Relations Act

Both the GMB and Unison made it apparent that they could not do business with “any company which pursued racist policies”.

Following intense pressure from CSC and the two unions Hilton International concluded:

that their critics’ legal argument was valid. Hilton International has instructed its staff to obey all local law, including the Race Relations Act, even if doing so violates US Cuba sanctions… Hilton has asked the US hotel industry trade association to begin a dialogue with the US government on this issue on behalf of all US hotels operating abroad

Although referring only to the hospitality industry, the hotel giants stressed that “Hilton would like to see a reform of the US Sanctions”.

A subsequent cable reports on a meeting between the Hilton, CSC and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cuba which reveals that the highly effective boycott of Hilton in 2007 led to concerns regarding the conflict between US sanctions on Cuba and UK law banning discrimination. Members of the Parliamentary Group vowed to “protest the US sanctions with the relevant minister”.

The cables demonstrate the effective lobbying carried out by CSC and the British trade union movement and illustrate the potential for the British government to overrule U.S law. The extraterritorial implementation of the U.S blockade represents not just an affront to Cuban sovereignty, but also that of the British government.

According to comments by the U.S Embassy in London in the same cable, “we have briefed Members of Parliament and the Trade Union Congress that the US does not impose its sanctions obligations extraterritorially on non-US persons”. However, as the experience of Barclays and Lloyds testify, British companies continue to be subjugated to American blockade legislation.

United States’ blockade of Cuba is ‘economic warfare’

In a packed fringe meeting at GMB National Conference in Brighton, over fifty delegates heard about Cuba’s social achievements and learnt about the island’s struggle to defend socialism in the face of worldwide economic crisis and within the context of continuing economic blockade.

Cuban Ambassador Esther Armenteros heralded the triumph of the Cuban Revolution and the opportunities it gave her – as a black working-class woman – to build and develop her career. Esther – joking that she was wary of giving away her age – declared she was (just) old enough to remember what life was like prior to the revolution and likened the racial segregation in Batista’s Cuba to apartheid South Africa. The revolution’s victory created unprecedented opportunities for women and black people in Cuba and – whilst Esther concedes the system is not perfect – it has created unparalleled levels of equality and well-being.

GMB Delegation Enjoy May Day Brigade to Cuba

The GMB recently sent six delegates on our Young Trade Unionists’ May Day Brigade to Cuba. Two of the delegates from the Northern Region – Craig Maguire and Michael Carey – have written the article below outlining their thoughts and experiences.

As two young trade unionists the opportunity to go to Cuba and experience the highs and lows of Cuban life first hand was an exciting prospect, a once in a lifetime opportunity, not to be missed; to have our eyes opened to the struggles and successes of Cuba and bring back the message of Cuban people for the purposes of international solidarity and awareness of injustice inflicted by the USA.