A London ambulance worker reports on a union visit to Cuba, observing the daily struggle of health workers there to cope with the consequences of the American blockade of the island...

Havana and London: solidarity from ambulance workers to ambulance workers

WORKERS, DEC 2007 ISSUE

UNISON has a long and proud history of solidarity with other trade unions around the world, particularly when it comes to health. Health should be a universal right for all people, but in some cases that right is denied, either by economic forces, or, as is mainly the case, political forces. Internal political and economic forces are usually seen as the culprit but in the case of Cuba, both these forces are applied vindictively and cynically by a close external superpower.

The history of Cuba and the Cuban people is not for this article but it would be remiss of me not to applaud the magnificent achievements of the Cuban Health Workers Union (SNTS) in providing healthcare throughout the island in spite of the brutal fifty-year blockade by the United States. A blockade which denies trade, medicines, materials and basic human day-to-day necessities that we in Britain take for granted. A blockade, by the way, condemned by the overwhelming majority of countries within the United Nations, year after year.

London Ambulance Unison headed a campaign in 1999 when we were asked by Salud International if we could supply one ambulance to be included within a shipment of buses, fire engines and other containers of aid from British trade unions. In the end, with the help of generous union and private individual donations, we managed to send over 50!

It was a historic day when a ship called the Luric docked in Havana and spilled its cargo of much-needed, blockade-breaking, solidarity onto the quayside. A delegation from the branch went to Cuba and our strong ties with ambulance workers in general and the Havana City Ambulance Service in particular, began.

As British ambulance workers struggle with high demand, response times, mergers, reconfigurations, registration, low wage rises, Agenda for Change, unsocial hours, rest breaks etc (which is right because we live and work here and they are our particular problems to resolve), the daily struggle of our Cuban counterparts puts everything into perspective: a shortage of vehicles, spare parts, equipment, medicine, fuel, paper, phones, computers. The list goes on.

These are not shortages because of an incompetent management or government but because the things that they need and are willing to pay and trade for, are denied them by a huge, rich, powerful bully that wants to starve and destroy them, their way of life and their country.

The Havana City Ambulance Control Room: the US blockade is preventing modern equipment from being installed. Unison London Region is launching a £50,000 campaign to restructure and modernise the facility. Photo: Workers

I sometimes wonder how we would survive through a 50-year blockade of our shores and I hope we never have to find out. The population of the United States is about 250 million; the population of Cuba is about 12 million, just bigger than London!

Friends
That said, Cuba does have lots of friends in the world. Canada for one is a country which consistently breaks the blockade to trade and enter into partnerships with the Cuban government. Canada has also supplied ambulances, materials and spare parts to the health service.

On my last visit I also saw Mercedes ambulances on the streets after the government purchased them out of a financial loan from China. Things are slowly getting better as the country recovers from losing their most important trading partner – the Soviet Union – over a decade ago.

My last trip to Cuba was in December 2006. I visited a number of ambulance stations and for the first time, the Havana City Ambulance Control Room. I also spoke to trade union leaders and government ministers about Unison London Region's strategy for further and ongoing solidarity work with our sister unions.

I went to the ambulance station in Old Havana, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The station has quadruple size bunks for workers to sleep between their 24 hours on/48 hours off shifts. I was told that one of their main problems was getting ambulances through the narrow streets in the centre and with no alternative, slimmer forms of transport, this has led to tragic, avoidable deaths.

I also visited an ambulance station outside of Havana in the Pinar Del Rio province. It was different from the one in Old Havana – bigger, more grounds, and in the country. The staff seemed more relaxed. They do 24 hours on and 72 hours off. The ambulance workers there rear their own chickens and grow their own bananas in the grounds of the station! There was also a huge herb garden growing alongside the mess room wall.

My next visit was to the Havana City Ambulance Control Room. This was my first visit and I was really shocked and upset at what I saw. It was as if I had walked back in time. I had been spoilt by the London Ambulance control room. Millions of pounds' worth of high tech, three hundred or so highly trained staff, more computer screens than you can wave a stick at, bright lights, buzzing activity and controllers taking calls from the public and passing them on to the crews.

The Havana City Control Room was silent! It was based in two small rooms –no computers, no bright lights, no buzzing activity, no high tech. The main room was supposed to be the call taking room. Two big desks in the centre of the floor and about twelve telephones were all that was in it with pencils and paper to write down any calls that came in. Twelve telephones, pencil and paper to deal with a city with the population of around two-and-a-half million people!

Worse was to come. The room for dispatching had one desk, one old radio that looked like a trucker's type, and nothing else. Even the most basic control room in the most basic voluntary or private ambulance service in the UK could not function like this. This is not the fault of the workers in the control room. It is not the fault of the Havana City Ambulance Service and it is not the fault of the Cuban government.

Health first
Cuba, in spite of the blockade, has always put the health of the people at the top of the agenda and a lot of the medical outcomes (mortality rates etc) are on a par with, or better than, a lot of rich western countries. Without trade it cannot invest and make an excellent service better. Doctors, health workers and ambulance workers have to function with one hand tied behind their backs. They need help.

That is why the Unison London Region is launching a campaign to modernise and restructure the Havana City Ambulance Control. The target is £50,000. This will help purchase computers, databases, modern phones with multiple lines, recording machines, radios (both for the control room and ambulances), call stacking equipment, tracking devices and much, much more modern control equipment that we take for granted. We are hoping also to buy a bike for the Old Havana Ambulance Station.

Above all, the campaign will save lives, and saving lives is what ambulance workers around the world are about. Solidarity!

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