[Marxism] Venezuela: The nationalization of the Steel Works of Orinoco “SIDOR”

[Gonzalo <tha_prophecy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Workers and union of Sutiss win battle
The nationalization of the Steel Works of Orinoco “SIDOR” – 09/04/2008

MERIDA, Venezuela (Merida Community Reporters) The workers at Sidor and the 
Sutiss union, win their struggle for the nationalization of the steel company 
"Ternium-Sidor", after months of strikes, aggression, and repression by the 
National Guard. This morning, at 1:22 AM, Vice President Ramon Carrizales, an 
envoy for the national executive, with the aim of opening a definitive path to 
a solution to the conflict between the union, and transnational employer. A 
process in which the workers had been reporting to the minister of labour, 
numerous existing contractual irregularities and the prevailing conditions of 
capitalist exploitation, but despite all this, these allegations were not 
considered by the national official.

Carrizales, spoke on behalf of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to announce 
the decision taken by the president Hugo Chavez Frias to nationalise 
"Ternium-Sidor", the main steel works in the country, controlled by the 
Italian-Argentine consortium "Techint". The unpredictable character of the 
industrial conflict in Sidor was confirmed last night with the announcement by 
the Venezuelan government to retake the majority of shares of the company, 
which was privatized in 1997. After the petition from the Steel Workers Union 
and its Allies (Sutiss ) to resume talks with the company for contractual 
negotiations, the [National] Executive last Monday organized a meeting between 
the parties, which was marked from the beginning with the determination of the 
vice president to end this conflict once and for all. The Minister of Labour 
was not called to attend this meeting last Monday.

The truth was that the pressure made by the workers, erupted in a 
nationalisation approval. Meanwhile the employer resisted to acknowledge: the 
transfer to the payroll of more than 600 workers "outsourced" and establish a 
pension for retirees at the national minimum wage [level]. 

The workers triump 

At midnight, the atmosphere was tense in the meeting room of the hydroelectric 
complex of Macagua. At that time  the workers of Sutiss proposed an economic 
offer without finding a response from company management.

Meanwhile, the threat of nationalization surrounded the place, gaining 
momentum. Surprising some present, the vice president requested for the record 
the refusal of the transnational representatives to propose a counteroffer, and 
would shortly announce the decision that there was no need for any further 
proceedings: Sidor would be nationalized.

[Translated by Gonzalo Villanueva for Reporteros Comunitarios de Mérida. 
Original can be found at www.aporrea.org]




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