Power at the workplace: The resolution of worker-management conflict in Cuba

Abstract

This contribution examines the distribution of power at the Cuban workplace by analyzing how overt conflicts between workers and managers concerning discipline and workers' rights are resolved. Variations in dispute resolution mechanisms and processes over the last quarter century are discussed in order to elucidate the degree to which they have either reinforced power inequalities between workers and managers or mitigated them. The paper demonstrates that the procedures employed to resolve worker-management conflict during this period have granted significant powers to workers. Yet no matter how egalitarian their form, workers' ability to take full advantage of the empowerment opportunities provided by these procedures has depended, in large measure, on the overall strength of the Cuban unions. © 1987.