Mar, 2026.- Every March 1st, the Day of the Light Industry Worker is celebrated in honor of the birthday of the martyr José Ramón Martínez Hernández, a worker in the sector and an expeditionary of the yacht Granma.
This Sunday, more than 60,000 Cuban workers celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the National Union of Light Industry Workers, which includes branches such as soap making, perfumery, furniture, graphic arts, garment manufacturing, textiles, footwear, plastics, sports articles, and tailoring workshops.
These centers emerged in the 1980s with the purpose of strengthening the social integration of the sector, ensuring economic independence, and fostering pride in being useful. However, the economic blockade imposed by the United States on the island has significantly limited its development, causing multimillion-dollar losses that directly affect the basic needs of the population.
Among the main difficulties are the need to import supplies from distant markets, the increased cost of freight and insurance, and the additional expense resulting from immobilizing resources in inventories. For example, the Polygraphic Union had to purchase materials from Asia, which represented an extra cost close to two million dollars. With that amount, Cuba could have produced more than 16.7 million high-quality school notebooks.
Despite the shortage of raw materials, the wear and tear of technical equipment, and the lack of resources, Cuban light industry opens inclusive spaces for sensitive sectors of society. More than two thousand people with physical or intellectual disabilities work today in over 150 special workshops, where they are given priority. That is the true greatness of the nation's social system: placing the human being at the center of every effort.
(Photo taken from Trabajadores.cu)
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