A worker stands next to a national flag at the construction site of a new hospital in Havana on March 25. Members of Cuba's Union of Young Communists called for a day of voluntary work in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the union. - Reuters

Cuba is cranking up a new campaign for worker productivity, hoping new rules next month will impose discipline in a work culture where tardiness and absences have long been tolerated and tiny salaries are not always enough to get people to go to work.

The official Communist Party Granma devoted its back page Monday to the new regulations, which many workers complain are too strict - especially for the small salaries they earn. State TV in recent days has aired messages about the need to increase worker discipline.

The communist newspaper acknowledged that many workers face additional problems that will make it hard to comply with the new regulations, such as unreliable and crowded public transport and limited hours for child care.

Pay hike inadequate

Although minimum government salaries were increased significantly in recent years, the current average monthly pay is still just around US$15 (?€7.50).

Most Cubans pay no rent, enjoy free health care and education, and pay very little for heavily subsidised transportation and utilities and a basic food basket covering about 40 per cent of dietary needs.

Unemployed Cubans enjoy the same broad net of free and low-cost social services.

Worker productivity plunged during the island's economic crisis in the 1990s.

- AP