10) VENEZUELAN WORKERS BACK CHAVEZ GOVERNMENT
By Juan Reardon, Venezuelanalysis.com, Feb. 11, 2011 (abridged)
Nearly ten thousand workers marched in downtown Caracas on Feb. 10 to support the government's social policies and to push for further advances in worker's rights and working conditions.
Members of health, education, electricity, oil and other sectors marched to the National Assembly to demand, among other things, the signing into law of labour legislation which has been under discussion since 2003. National Assembly President, Fernando Soto Rojas, met with marchers personally to receive their written statement and demands.
"Never in the political history of this country has the working class had such possibilities for social inclusion," declared Wills Rangel, President of the United Federation of Oil Workers.
Since the start of the Bolivarian Revolution, Venezuelans have seen a five-fold increase in pensions, a large decrease in unemployment and one of the highest minimum wages in Latin America, according to Correo del Orinoco International. As cited by Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolas Maduro, 60% of the country's national budget is now spent on social services.
Pedro Rojas, Secretary General of Petroleum Workers' Union, described the purpose of the Feb. 10 march.
"The objective [of this march] is to support the revolutionary process and to dismantle the current international media campaign that says here in Venezuela worker's rights are violated," he said.
"Quite the contrary, here in Venezuela working people have been guaranteed more inclusion, more opportunities than ever... in addition, more than 3,000 unions have been born in these 12 years of revolution," he told teleSUR reporters during the march.
"Today we will present - as a `Legislature of the People' - our support for the revolutionary parliamentarians who we count on," said Wilmer Nolasco, President of United Construction Industry Workers' Union (SUTIC). "We are convinced that they... will sign this [Organic Labour] Law, including in it our proposals and our solutions to the problems faced by all working people."
One of the proposals referred to by Nolasco is the removal of Article 125 from the Organic Labour Law currently under discussion, since it establishes "poverty‑inducing" compensation for workers fired without justification.
In addition, marchers called for all Venezuelans over the age of 80 to be guaranteed social security benefits, regardless of their contributions or lack thereof. Maduro on confirmed that plans are underway for food tickets benefits to reach the elderly before May 1, 2011.
The most popular elements of the proposed labour law include abolishing the so‑called "subcontracted worker" position, requiring employers - both public and private - to incorporate all workers as fixed, benefit‑assured workers; reducing the legal workday from eight to six hours; allotting paid time for workers' councils as well as political education; and the establishing of a national fund for worker stability that would include payments to thousands of workers denied their legal rights by former employers.
The governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has hosted numerous discussions nationwide - in parks, plazas, schools and community centers - to secure greater popular participation in the development of the law.
Earlier in February, less than a thousand people responded to the opposition-aligned Venezuelan Workers' Federation (CTV) call to march against nationalizations by the Chavez government as well as what they called a "criminalization of dissent." They received support from opposition student groups and the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). The CTV has also received financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the AFL‑CIO.
During open air discussion of the pending labour law in Caracas's Plaza Bolivar, National Revolutionary Workers' Front (FNTR) representative Juan Carlos Lopez spoke of the CTV march. "To those [marchers], to those who sold out [privatized] the public sector, to that fifth column, we are here to affirm that we are the real working class," he said.
(The above article is from the March 1-15, 2011, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)