The workers of the José Piña Guzmán factory, from San Agustín de Aguarás, arrive on May 29, Tobacco Worker's Day, with an over-compliance of close to eight thousand units, a result that keeps them among the best in the province of Holguín.
For Laiser Pérez Lerma, in charge of the 81 workers for just over ten years, his position as director is more than a responsibility, it is a privilege: "because they are very responsible and hardworking people, they are convinced of the importance of the task they perform on a daily basis and willing to face bigger challenges”.
Of the total 81 staff members of the aforementioned center, forty are women and 41 are men, with a well-representative youth force adding a total of 27.
"It is opportune to point out - Pérez Lerma notes - that almost eighty percent of the labor force of our facility is directly dedicated to the production process, fifty are rollers, six are dedicated to the classification of leaves and three to the placement of the rings”.
The rest of the staff, 22 in total, is involved in supply, maintenance, economics, management and a tobacco shop reader, a position carried out very efficiently by the young Aylín Hernández Ávila, a university student in Social Communication: "Previously I was a twister, but since I really like this activity, as soon as I was given the opportunity I applied for the position, and I've been in it for almost two years now."
The twisted tobacco factory in the northern Calixteño town of San Agustín de Aguarás, has had as its maxim, since its creation, in March 1963, the teaching of the most experienced to the youngest, as asserted by Maira Pérez Rojas, a woman who is about to retire after almost four decades of outstanding work: "My entire life is linked to this factory, I know it by heart, each position, each key, I have seen dozens and dozens of girls and boys arrive, whom I have tried to teach them everything, as they did to me almost forty years ago, this center is a symbol of this town, it is a school, and that is a healthy pride for us”.
Today, when the tobacco growers of the country celebrate their date, remembering the work of Lázaro Peña, the captain of the Cuban working class, who at one stage of his life worked in that sector, the members of the José Piña factory, from San Agustín de Aguarás, jubilantly celebrate their systematic good work in the twisting of cigars.
