Cuba Announces New Salaries, Pensions and Social Benefits

From January 1 onwards, the Cuban peso (CUP) will remain the only currency and be set at an exchange rate of 24 Cuban pesos for one dollar, both for the population and for the business sector, as announced by President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.  

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Below are further details of the rules outlined by Cuba's MTSS:

The country's minimum wage will now be 2,100 Cuban pesos (USD 87.50) per month.
Divided into 32 groups, salaries will be established on a sliding scale, according to the work and break schedule. The scales start at 1,910 and 2,100 pesos for those who work 40 and 44 hours a week, respectively, and the highest end of the scale is 9,510 pesos for those who work 44 hours a week.

The regulation states that additional monthly payments will be maintained for abnormal working conditions; for working night and mixed shifts; for holding the category of Master or the equivalent specialty recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education (440 pesos) and for the scientific degree of Doctor (825 pesos), which are received for a single degree, provided that the professional holds a position with university-level requirements. 

A coefficient of socio-economic interest of thirty percent (30%) is also added to the basic salary for individuals who work in the municipality of Caimanera in the province of Guantánamo, and professionals who are certified internationally gain 685 pesos more, as well. 

Additional payments are eligible for those teaching in the Public Health fields, doctors, dentists, and other professionals who do not hold teaching positions.

At the same time, additional monthly payments are left without effect for all workers, such as those who occupy technical positions, those who work in global organizations, and for business improvement in entities authorized to apply for it, among others.

The minimum pension under the General Social Security System and the special systems of the Ministries of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Interior will be 1,528 pesos.

The pensions granted by the General Social Security System are increased in accordance with a scale ranging from 1,528 pesos (for those currently receiving between 280 and 300 pesos) to 1,733 pesos for those receiving between 446 and 500 pesos.

The resolution specifies that pensions over 501 pesos per month will receive an increase of 1,528 pesos each.

As part of the legislative compendium, there is also Resolution No. 33, which specifies the labor regime in foreign investment and points out that the payment of the salary of Cubans residing in the national territory and foreigners permanently residing in Cuba who provide services in the companies is made in Cuban pesos by the employing entity, which is responsible for selecting and providing the personnel who provide the services to the companies. 

The salary is fixed by agreement between the employing entity and the company with foreign capital, taking into account the complexity, the conditions of the work, and the additional requirements of the positions. 

The agreed salary may not be less than that corresponding to each position in the current salary scale.

There are also other specific resolutions for workers who occupy positions in the occupational categories of cadres, technicians, operators, administrative and service workers, those who work in the local organs of the People's Power and its assigned and subordinated budgeted units.

Likewise, there are additional norms dedicated to the salary system for workers who hold journalistic positions in press entities and in other publications not considered as such; in the general and secondary education system and in Higher Education, and in the health institutions of the National Health System.

At the same time, the salary system for workers in the science, technology, and innovation activity has its own specifications, as does the payment of the basic monthly income to the high-performance athletes of the national sports teams, members of the participating teams of the National Baseball Series and their reserves, and those hired, according to their sports category,  by the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation.

The same goes for the amounts to be paid for the supply of the labor force between the designated Cuban entity and the foreign concessionaire or user of the Special Zone of Mariel Development; the monthly salaries of the subsidized artists of music, performances, theater, dance, circus, cinema and entertainment, who have a working relationship in the systems of Culture, Radio and Television, Tourism, Public Health and other authorized entities; for the cadres of the cultural institutions categorized by the Ministry of Culture and of the cultural centers belonging to the Office of the Historian of the city of Havana; for the personnel who are part of the endowments of the ships and navigation vessels of international voyages, of cabotage and those that carry out their activities near the coast and in the interior waters, belonging to or operated by the companies, budgeted units and other entities of the organisms of the Central State Administration and the local organs of People's Power.

Finally, Resolution 71 establishes that the workers' incomes are composed in a fixed manner, which corresponds to the salary scale according to the complexity of the work and the approved additional payments, as well a flexible or shifting element associated with the results achieved, paid either through piece-rate payment systems; profit distribution; and forms of payment by performance that is applied in the construction investments in the tourism development programs and the Special Development Zone of Mariel.

Piece-rate payment systems are based on the measurement of work expenses through the amount of production produced or services rendered; priority is given to their application in the processes and activities that the nature of the work makes possible, based on time or performance standards, meaning the salary is conditioned by the quality of the work performed.