Orville Taylor | Hasta luego Cubanos

Thousands of Jamaicans are going to be affected by the end of the 50-year-old programme of assistance, whereby medical professionals from Cuba come to this country and give yeoman service.

A legacy of our strong fraternal relations from the 1970s after Prime Minister Michael Manley, declared democratic socialism as our official doctrine, the relationship with Cuba gave us, José Marti and Garvey Maceo high.

Affectionately called the ‘Cubanz,’ Garvey Maceo produced Kishane Thompson, who broke our almost decade long drought in the Olympics men’s 100 metres and Tyquendo Tracey, the only sub-10 athlete to perform in both the summer and winter Olympics.

By the way, G C Foster College, another Cuban gift, has played a critical part in Jamaica’s becoming the sprint capital of the world.

Much pressure has emanated from our neighbours up north regarding the programme in other CARICOM countries. Unequivocally, Prime Minister of St Lucia, Philip J. Pierre has said, in English and perhaps to his constituents in the native Kweyol, that the USA did so.

We have heard direct and indirect threats against third party nations not to make decisions, which might run counter to American foreign policy.

In the current scenario, where America is an eagle, fighting multiple wolf packs on the ground, crocodiles in the rivers, sharks in the sea and birds in the air, any reasonable person could conclude that this is simply America expressing its hegemony. Indeed, given the utterances of the congressman last week, and his celebratory comments after the announcement has been made by our government, compliance of Jamaica might not even seem to be in dispute.

Now, to the credit of the Americans, and as clarified by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, it is not part of an effort to pressure the Jamaican government to participate in its blockade against Cuba.

Rather, instead of some obscure reference to human rights violation, state sponsorship of terrorism and other labels often used to justify the approach to Cuba, the Americans and in particular Rubio have made it clear that they were not opposed to Cubans working in Jamaica. What mattered to him and his government, was that international labour standards, and basic human rights at work be adhered to.

Of course, the contradiction regarding this is obvious, for those of us who pay deep attention to labour standards. For decades, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has raised major issues with goods and services in the supply chain for American companies connected to productive activities in developing countries.

Given the fact that trade standards of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are directly enforceable with approved sanctions; while the ILO’s are not, many enterprises have engaged in a ‘race to the bottom’, irrespective of how hard unions have fought.

Companies in the mineral sector on the African continent and in Asia have been flagged by human rights agencies, the UN and the ILO itself. America is one of the largest markets for these commodities. In fact, in many countries where American interests and bases exists, and which trade extensively with the USA, the evidence of breaches of the fundamental human rights conventions of the ILO are well evidenced.

Thus, the asymmetry needs no elucidation. Nonetheless, the fact that the Americans might be selective in the application of their outrage and recriminating measures, does not mean that they are wrong.

Official responses from Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, speak to the expiration of the existing long-term agreement. He however, did not sufficiently dismiss the idea that the Americans might have influenced the decision. Foreign affairs minister Kamina Johnson Smith, on the other hand, has unambiguously stated that the government did not act at the behest of the Americans

Opposition spokesman on Health, Dr Alfred Dawes, questioned why after 50 years the sudden awakening, and suggested that the terms Jamaica proposed to the Cubans could never have been acceptable to them. It was, supposedly a proposed arrangement which would have made the programmed not viable.

But could the Americans simply be right, and two parties in our legislature, built on the back of organised labour and workers’ rights, have facilitated and perpetuated a travesty against the Cuban workers for five decades across administrations?

Under Section 22 of its Constitution, all ILO member states are bound by the basic human rights conventions, even if unratified.

These include numbers 29 and 105, which deal with forced labour. Some of the manifestation of this extreme form of indecent work practices would include; control of movement by the employers or government, ‘safekeeping’ of passports, payments of wages inconsistent with decent labour standards and expropriation of wages. It is not unusual for governments to send their nationals to other countries in need or via mutual cooperation agreements. If this takes place, it cannot be at the peril of the workers sent.

No one from either side of Parliament has asked my opinion regarding the legitimacy of the labour contracts of our Cuban friends who come here to help us.

And in the absence of first-hand knowledge, which can be provided by both parties in Parliament, one can only speculate.

Nevertheless, however benevolent the gesture, one should never contract workers outside of the law and ILO conventions. The Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention 94, binds government to only issue contracts to employers who abide by them.

It can never be acceptable that workers be engaged under indecent or illegal conditions, simply because of the benefit their labour gives to the poor.

Would you accept your mother getting below minimum wages and insufficient vacation leave, simply because she is working in a nonprofit hospice for the indigent?

I would not.

Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.