Cuba has begun turning over some state-run barber shops and hair salons to their employees, a small but potentially significant step toward loosening the communist government's strict controls on the retail sector. The new regulations have not been published into law, and a government spokeswoman said Tuesday she did not yet have enough information to confirm them. But eight...
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Josefina Hernandez cuts a customer's hair next to a poster of Fidel Castro in a barber shop in Old Havana. Cuba has begun turning over some formerly state-run barber shops and hair salons to the employees who work in them, a pilot program that marks a loosening of the government's strict controls on the retail sector. Cuba has begun turning over some state-run barber shops and hair salons to their employees, a small but potentially significant step toward loosening the communist government's strict controls on the retail sector.
The new regulations have not been published into law, and a government spokeswoman said Tuesday she did not yet have enough information to confirm them. But eight barbers and hairdressers said the reforms began on a trial basis April 1 and apply primarily to small salons.
Employees in state-run salons chosen to participate lose their government salaries and are required to rent the retail space where they work, as well as pay taxes. But they are allowed to pocket all the money they make cutting hair, after paying for supplies and rent.
The pilot program could be another step toward the type of free-market reforms that transformed the command economies of communist-ruled China and Vietnam.
But Cuban barbers and stylists interviewed by The Associated Press had nothing but complaints Tuesday. Most said they felt the reforms had less to do with opening the economy and more to do with stamping out institutionalized thievery that had become built into every haircut provided by state employees.
Posted prices at state barber shops and salons mandate that standard haircuts cost 80 centavos -- about 4 American pennies -- for men and 1.20 pesos, or a U.S. nickel, for women. Instead, barbers typically charge 10 pesos, nearly 50 cents U.S., then pocket the difference -- a major boon in a country where wages average about $20 a month.
"The idea is not a bad one, but the implementation is terrible," said one barber in Havana's 10 de Octubre neighborhood. He declined to give his name for fear of reprisals.
The new rules are consistent with other efforts by President Raul Castro's government, which has allowed minor free-market openings while also seeking to eliminate black market income.
In recent months, the government has moved to approve more licenses for private taxis while getting tough on unlicensed gypsy cabs. It also made it easier to get permits for home improvements, while more strictly enforcing prohibitions against illegal building.
Some participants in the haircut shops experiment worry that even if they can charge whatever customers are willing to pay, they won't be able to make enough to cover their new expenses. Others said it was unfair to force them to rent formally state-owned shops that are in disrepair after decades of neglect by government authorities.
"I would like to keep working for the state, I'm fine that way," said Gerardo Aguila, who is suddenly in business for himself at the formally state-run Correo barber shop in Havana's historic district. "Time will tell if this works."
Cuba nationalized all businesses large and small by 1968. But after the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991, bringing the island's economy to its knees, the government began approving self-employment licenses for hundreds of professions, including barbers and others working in retail.
