Cuba opens more state enterprises to worker control

Cuba opens more state enterprises to worker control
Published November 09, 2012
EFE

Starting in December, the Cuban government will lease select state-owned
eateries to their workers to run as independent businesses, a
possibility that has been available to barber shops and beauty salons
for some time.

According to officials cited in state media, the system of private
management of small cafes and state restaurants will begin with 200
establishments that have no more than two workers each, and will be
gradually increased to some 1,200.

When the efficiency of the system has been shown, it will be extended to
eateries with up to five workers.

Besides economic effiency, one of the measure's goals is "to offer a
higher quality of service in establishments that do not always offer
varied and attractive menus to consumers," according to a report on
state television.

The expansion of the non-state sector is at the core of the economic
reforms promoted in recent years by President Raul Castro, which have
opened a small foothold to private enterprise in the only communist
country in the Americas.

The growth of self-employment and small-scale private enterprise has led
to a proliferation of small businesses, many of them restaurants, coffee
shops and small cafes.

EFE

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