report on venezuela's trade union situation (may 2004):
Carlos Ortega, the president of the CTV, has been out of the country since early 2003, and is currently in Costa Rica. He is currently at risk of being kicked out of that country because of his insistent calls for the overthrow of the Chávez government. Most others who planned the coup continue to function as before. The ongoing ramifications of that impunity continue to haunt the government.
(...) In December 2002, the FEDECAMARAS and a CTV union representing managerial workers at the state-owned petroleum company, PDVSA, organized a work stoppage in the sector to shut down the oil industry. This was a clear attempt to paralyze the country's main source of wealth. The action prevented hourly workers not involved in the labour action from continuing their work. The protesting management workers led a very aggressive attack, including sabotaging computer control systems, damaging valves and other operational equipment in the refineries, and removing hard drives containing exploration maps and reports. The shutdown (which one observer has identified as 1/3 lock-out, 1/3 strike, and 1/3 sabotage) was all but over in March. It was at this point that the government fired approximately 18,000 petroleum workers for dereliction of duty, mainly from the management echelons of PDVSA. These fired workers have also lost their company-provided housing and benefits, and are pursuing legal avenues as well as complaints to the ILO to achieve redress. There have been very few legal charges against the protesters, and the Venezuelan courts again determined in pre-trial hearings that because the demands were not related to collective bargaining, this was not a strike.
(...) [this group's summary of CTV history] The Venezuelan labour affiliate of the ICFTU is the CTV. Founded in 1936, the organization has a history of struggle for the rights of organized workers as well as on behalf of the working class in general. It survived several periods of dictatorship, the last of which ended in 1958. At that time, the CTV formed a "strategic alliance" with the business association, FEDECAMARAS to move the country in a more democratic direction. This was not the last of such alliances with this powerful employer group. Through the 90s the CTV accepted privatization and made no sustained efforts to resist neo-liberal or free trade policies. The organization's executive committee is composed of individuals who were elected at large by delegates, and are not selected with regard for sector or elected office. Obviously, this reduces the accountability of individual members of the executive to any particular rank and file base. The executive has historically been dominated by the Acción Democrática, in theory a social democratic party currently aligned with the country's right wing forces, and a major component of the Coordinadora Democrática coalition working for Chávez' ouster.
(...) A number of academics, as well as consultants from labour NGOs who work intensively with the CTV, expressed the concern that the executive committee had abandoned its concern for basic trade union functions and was focussing all its attention to political opposition.
(...) In May 2003, the government approved Orlando Chirino, a leader of the very new UNT, to represent Venezuela at the ILO's annual convention. In order to be appointed, the government must certify that the appointee is from the country's most representative union formation. Communication from the ILO on Venezuela's designation of the UNT representative used sharp words, and concluded with the wish that such a manipulation not recur. The government holds that the CTV placed itself ‘out of the running’ for nomination as it did not send a representative to the 2003 meeting at which all the labour centrals met to choose their delegate. The CTV sent a lawyer with no decision-making authority. This year the CTV sent a full-fledged member of the executive committee to the meeting, held on May 13 and then extended to May 17. The decision was pending as of this writing, but it seems likely that the government would take the position that the UNT is now the most representative labour body in the country, despite the lack of elections to establish this claim.
(...) In 2003, The ILO singled out China, Colombia, Belarus and Venezuela as countries with the most serious violations of trade union freedoms. Noting systematic physical harm to trade unionists in the first three countries, in the case of Venezuela, the allegations were more procedural: delays in registrations, suspension of trade union dues, obstruction of collective bargaining, dismissals, and extensive interference in trade union activities.
(...) Beginning around the time of the general strike and resulting coup, a number of labour leaders sought to distance themselves from the CTV and began to discuss disaffiliation from that central labour body and the formation of new central. Currently, many labour leaders in the strategic petroleum, public, auto and rubber sectors (likely a majority in these sectors) have signed on to the UNT. The major union in the steelmaking sector, SUTISS, is seen as being close to the UNT. Within the UNT, some leaders maintain a union independence stance, while others are firmly identified with the current government and see defence of the government as a major axis of their formation. The next phase for that emerging centre is to hold elections for its leadership at all levels, and to confirm formally the will of the members to affiliate to the new central. Members of the national coordinating body stated their hope that such elections would be held in October. However, with the potential for a referendum on the country's leadership on the horizon for August, a delay is likely.
(...) At the same time, SUNEP-SAS leaders vigorously denied any participation in the coup by the CTV. However, this participation is alleged to be a fully substantiated "fact" by human rights and labour NGOs close to the CTV, including PROVEA and the Ebert Foundation, as well as the government and UNT sources.
(...) There appears to be substantial evidence that members of the current CTV executive participated in the plot to overthrow the government by "extra-legal" means. However, no union leader has ever been charged with any violation of law in the coup. Due to the fact that the initial charges were subject to pre-trial hearings at which no merit to the charges was established, all charges were thrown out. Video documentation aside, in the eyes of the country's judiciary, the coup "never happened."
(...) The novel, emblematic of the "magic realism" genre in Latin America, seems particularly appropriate to the Venezuelan scene, where all parties assert that any official document can be produced or altered to order, to be passed off as authentic. This means that no documentary evidence, transcript of a speech, official document, or election ballot can be definitively verified.
(...) We were told about the parallel trade union central, UNT, while in Canada. What we learned once on the ground was that parallelism exists in other realms, in particular the five "missions" (Robinson, Sucre, Ribas, Vuelvan Caras and Barrio Adentro) created to deliver programs such as educational and health services directly to the people. In general, the government's creation of parallel structures responds to the government's concern desire to circumvent bureaucratic and highly corrupt government service delivery systems built up over the last 60 years. The old systems were anything but universal in service delivery; the new services are reported to be reaching the people. While we made no attempt to verify the accounts of corruption in delivery of services, the allegations are wide and consistent and we had no reason to doubt their truth.
(...) As the strength of the UNT grows, the CTV is being revealed as an organization lacking in even the most basic trade union agenda. Its top leadership has suffered a serious loss of credibility with its rank and file membership. It is almost universally seen to be dominated by a partisan political agenda, displaying single-minded determination to oppose the government. On most policy issues, CTV continues to act in conjunction with business representatives, such as the FEDECAMARAS, a key player in the failed April 2002 coup d'état. For example, the CTV and FEDECAMARAS recently opposed both the increase in minimum wage and the no-layoff policy adopted by the government.
(...) For all its centralism, the CTV is far from monolithic. Affiliated national unions and federations represent a range of programmatic approaches and styles of operation, from democratic to authoritarian. However, there are few spaces in which the lack of trust and respect between the CTV and the UNT can be bridged, and virtually no such expressions of trust between the government and the CTV. All parties believe that their opposite numbers cheat and lie.
(...) When we asked what steps the CTV planned to take to ensure that "historic errors" (such as intertwining with political parties and employers' associations, distance of the leadership from the base, and corruption) do not recur, the CTV executive would only say they planned to implement procedures long on the books to increase the transparency of their financial dealings. Perhaps this is all that can be expected of them.