Dominicana_1965
27th February 2008, 23:49
Caracas, February 27, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Thousands of workers at Venezuela's largest steel plant, the Argentine-controlled Ternium Sidor, activated staggered strikes today as part of an ongoing dispute for a collective contract, which has dragged on for more than a year.
The dispute involves 5,400 permanent workers and a further 9,000 contract workers outsourced from 350 small and medium businesses that service the steel industry. In addition to improved health and safety conditions, the workers are demanding a salary increase to put them on par with workers in similar industries.
The salary increase is the most contentious point of the negotiations - the company claims the demand of the workers is "unreasonable" and the workers have characterized the Sidor management as "intransient."
The latest demand by the union was for a raise of 68 Bs. (US$31.6) per day, down from their initial demand of 80 Bs (US$37.2). The company has offered a 24 Bs. (US$11.15) raise, and the intermediary proposal of the Labor Ministry is 45 Bs (US$20.9).
Labor Minister José Ramón Rivero recognized Monday that the salary and conditions of workers in the steel industry are "backwards", but he said the 16-hour strike that paralyzed Sidor last Thursday was an "error," and called on Sidor workers to agree to form of an arbitration committee to resolve the conflict, ABN reported.
The proposal of the Labor Ministry involves the creation of a binding arbitration committee consisting of three members who have no direct relation to the conflict: One chosen by the company from a shortlist of three presented by the union, one chosen by the workers from a shortlist presented by the company and the other jointly designated by the company and the union.
According to the minister, "if the workers decide to deepen the measures of pressure, the executive - in keeping with article 504 of the [labor] law - has the authority to call on the workers to resume work and submit the conflict to arbitration," if it determines that the conflict, "affects the normal functioning of the country."
The minister also accused some of the worker representatives at the negotiating table, of being emissaries of the opposition and of being responsible for maintaining the conflict in Sidor.
"They are the same people that supported the sabotage stoppage [of the oil industry], the same who during the stoppage worked against Sidor," he claimed.
However, the United Steel Industry Workers Union (SUTISS) has categorically rejected the minister's claims.
"We defend this revolutionary process, we are with the policies of the President of the Republic, Hugo Chávez Frías, but we reject the policy that the Minister of Labor is applying against us, trying to impose an arbitration committee," SUTISS Finance Secretary and member of the Marea Socialista union current, José Meléndez, declared.
SUTISS President, José Rodríguez questioned, "Who will guarantee benefits for the workers in an arbitration committee?"
"We will not delegate the responsibility that has been assigned to us by the workers. We were elected by the workers and in this sense we are going to continue the struggle until the final consequences," Rodríguez told Correo del Caroni on Monday.
"If they take us away handcuffed, they take us away, but we're not going to rest until we achieve better working conditions," he added.
At first the workers welcomed the initiative of the Labor Ministry to participate in negotiations between SUTISS and Ternium Sidor to avoid a major conflict, Rodriguez recounted.
"But today we note certain coincidences between the functionaries of the Labor Ministry and the representatives of Ternium Sidor against the Sidor workers movement," he explained.
Meléndez, was more emphatic, saying of the Labor Minister, "the mask has fallen, he has jumped ship towards the endogenous rightwing," and insisted in declaring him "persona non grata."
The position of the Labor Ministry "follows the bosses representation and therefore is a betrayal of the struggle of the workers," Meléndez said.
Meléndez called for "solidarity at a national level in this struggle against exploitation."
Eduardo Sanchez, a spokesperson for the National Union of Workers (UNT) and member of the Collective of Workers in Revolution union current, affirmed the UNT's support for the Sidor workers in an interview with Union Radio yesterday
The official position of establishing an arbitration mechanism supervised by the Labor Ministry corresponded to the practice of previous governments and does not contribute to or fulfill the demands of the workers, Sanchez said.
Sánchez reiterated that the position of the UNT is for the nationalization of Sidor, which he compared to the nationalizations in the Orinoco oil fields last year.
Last year, in the framework of President Chavez's call to "re-nationalize everything that was privatized," sections of the Sidor workforce called for the company to be nationalized and put under worker's control.
Chavez also threatened to nationalize the company if it did not prioritize production for the domestic market and pay more for the raw materials, which it had obtained at a subsidized rate from a state-owned mining company. However, the company later reached an agreement with the government to avoid nationalization.
Sidor, which manufactures wire and metal piping, is the number one steel production plant in the Andean region and the fourth largest in Latin America. Management has estimated that the company has lost an estimated US$7 million for each day of strike action.
Located in the state of Bolivar in the south of Venezuela, Sidor was privatized in 1997. Argentina's Trechint now owns a 60% controlling stake, 20% belongs to workers and retirees, and the remaining 20% is owned by the Venezuelan state.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3205
The dispute involves 5,400 permanent workers and a further 9,000 contract workers outsourced from 350 small and medium businesses that service the steel industry. In addition to improved health and safety conditions, the workers are demanding a salary increase to put them on par with workers in similar industries.
The salary increase is the most contentious point of the negotiations - the company claims the demand of the workers is "unreasonable" and the workers have characterized the Sidor management as "intransient."
The latest demand by the union was for a raise of 68 Bs. (US$31.6) per day, down from their initial demand of 80 Bs (US$37.2). The company has offered a 24 Bs. (US$11.15) raise, and the intermediary proposal of the Labor Ministry is 45 Bs (US$20.9).
Labor Minister José Ramón Rivero recognized Monday that the salary and conditions of workers in the steel industry are "backwards", but he said the 16-hour strike that paralyzed Sidor last Thursday was an "error," and called on Sidor workers to agree to form of an arbitration committee to resolve the conflict, ABN reported.
The proposal of the Labor Ministry involves the creation of a binding arbitration committee consisting of three members who have no direct relation to the conflict: One chosen by the company from a shortlist of three presented by the union, one chosen by the workers from a shortlist presented by the company and the other jointly designated by the company and the union.
According to the minister, "if the workers decide to deepen the measures of pressure, the executive - in keeping with article 504 of the [labor] law - has the authority to call on the workers to resume work and submit the conflict to arbitration," if it determines that the conflict, "affects the normal functioning of the country."
The minister also accused some of the worker representatives at the negotiating table, of being emissaries of the opposition and of being responsible for maintaining the conflict in Sidor.
"They are the same people that supported the sabotage stoppage [of the oil industry], the same who during the stoppage worked against Sidor," he claimed.
However, the United Steel Industry Workers Union (SUTISS) has categorically rejected the minister's claims.
"We defend this revolutionary process, we are with the policies of the President of the Republic, Hugo Chávez Frías, but we reject the policy that the Minister of Labor is applying against us, trying to impose an arbitration committee," SUTISS Finance Secretary and member of the Marea Socialista union current, José Meléndez, declared.
SUTISS President, José Rodríguez questioned, "Who will guarantee benefits for the workers in an arbitration committee?"
"We will not delegate the responsibility that has been assigned to us by the workers. We were elected by the workers and in this sense we are going to continue the struggle until the final consequences," Rodríguez told Correo del Caroni on Monday.
"If they take us away handcuffed, they take us away, but we're not going to rest until we achieve better working conditions," he added.
At first the workers welcomed the initiative of the Labor Ministry to participate in negotiations between SUTISS and Ternium Sidor to avoid a major conflict, Rodriguez recounted.
"But today we note certain coincidences between the functionaries of the Labor Ministry and the representatives of Ternium Sidor against the Sidor workers movement," he explained.
Meléndez, was more emphatic, saying of the Labor Minister, "the mask has fallen, he has jumped ship towards the endogenous rightwing," and insisted in declaring him "persona non grata."
The position of the Labor Ministry "follows the bosses representation and therefore is a betrayal of the struggle of the workers," Meléndez said.
Meléndez called for "solidarity at a national level in this struggle against exploitation."
Eduardo Sanchez, a spokesperson for the National Union of Workers (UNT) and member of the Collective of Workers in Revolution union current, affirmed the UNT's support for the Sidor workers in an interview with Union Radio yesterday
The official position of establishing an arbitration mechanism supervised by the Labor Ministry corresponded to the practice of previous governments and does not contribute to or fulfill the demands of the workers, Sanchez said.
Sánchez reiterated that the position of the UNT is for the nationalization of Sidor, which he compared to the nationalizations in the Orinoco oil fields last year.
Last year, in the framework of President Chavez's call to "re-nationalize everything that was privatized," sections of the Sidor workforce called for the company to be nationalized and put under worker's control.
Chavez also threatened to nationalize the company if it did not prioritize production for the domestic market and pay more for the raw materials, which it had obtained at a subsidized rate from a state-owned mining company. However, the company later reached an agreement with the government to avoid nationalization.
Sidor, which manufactures wire and metal piping, is the number one steel production plant in the Andean region and the fourth largest in Latin America. Management has estimated that the company has lost an estimated US$7 million for each day of strike action.
Located in the state of Bolivar in the south of Venezuela, Sidor was privatized in 1997. Argentina's Trechint now owns a 60% controlling stake, 20% belongs to workers and retirees, and the remaining 20% is owned by the Venezuelan state.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3205