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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Trade unions denounce labor "apartheid" |
| 2004-03-20 |
| EFL The Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV) will visit the International Labor Organization and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to present the cases of workers of the public administration who have been fired or threatened to be fired for their participation in the signature collection process to demand for a presidential recall. I don’t understand how they think the court will protect or help them. Froilán Barrios, member of the Executive Committee of the organization, said that the government has imposed a "labor apartheid" in Venezuela by "violating the right to work" of all the employees who decided to support the referendum petition. Barrios mentioned the example of the state-run electricity firms Enelven, Enelbar, Cadafe and the oil industry, as well as a number of municipal and regional governments and schools, where workers must register documents certifying that they did not sign the request if they want to keep their jobs. The workers are in a very "difficult situation," Barrios explained, because terror is being associated to work, and that is equivalent to trading with "the people’s hunger." "Pro-government labor unions now spy on the employer, accuse their co-workers and urge them to take (their signatures) back," Barrios said. The complaint was filed during the meeting of the Committee on Freedom of Association of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland. After some 7,000 workers of the state-run oil company are believed to have signed the presidential recall petition, a list of 900 names is now posted in the main entrance of the headquarters of the firm in La Campiña, Caracas, so that there is no doubt about who the signers are. Although Energy Minister Rafael RamÃÂrez has said that nobody is being persecuted in the industry, fears about imminent lay-offs grow with each day, and the measure has not been denied conclusively. "We just want the people to do their work, play their role and keep their ethic commitment," Ramirez said. However, AlàRodrÃÂguez, president of Pdvsa, said that "it would not be surprising" if there are firings related to the recall signing. With the per barrel price of oil headed for $50, a revenue starved country decides to lay off workers in its government owned oil company. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #3 Thanks SH.. Fills in part of my massive South American history gap. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-20 8:30:20 PM |
| #2 Shipman, I found a Venezuelan history site that includes some information about Simon Bolivar. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-20 4:12:56 PM |
| #1 Daniel continues to provide insight about the deteriorating conditions in that Eden-like but troubled South American country. He posts -Venezuelan Electoral Board, CNE, gets ready for a major international break up |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-20 4:02:39 PM |