Cuba to renegotiate wages paid by foreign firms

Communist-run Cuba will renegotiate wages for some 40,000 nationals working in joint ventures with foreign companies, driving up labour costs as Cuba actively seeks foreign investment crucial to its economic growth plans. The new regulations, published in official media on Tuesday, no longer allow companies to pay the minimum wage in Cuba and link salaries to pay elsewhere in the Caribbean and Central America.
"These regulations will have a favourable impact on the salaries of the vast majority of those who work in this sector, and once negotiated will be applied retroactively to October 2014," the National Information Agency (AIN) quoted Deputy Labour Minister Zamira Maryn as saying at a press conference from which foreign journalists were excluded. One regulation doubles the pesos paid to workers through the state, while another potentially increases wages companies pay the state for labour and indirectly increase Cubans' salaries The 208 foreign investment projects in Cuba must obtain labour through official hiring halls, which provide revenue for the state.