Report on Venezuelan Labour (8 August 2003)

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

Dear Friends,

        

I hope you
find the following note of interest and will forward it to relevant lists
and individuals.

        

        

in
solidarity,

        

        

michael
------------------------------------
Report on Venezuelan Labour: the Process Continues

Michael A. Lebowitz
8 August 2003

        

Nationalise
the Banks! Take over enterprises that have shutdown and run them instead
by workers! Refuse to pay the external debt and use the funds to create
jobs! Reduce the workweek to 36 hours! Create new enterprises under
workers? control!--- These were some of the demands that emerged from the
action programme workshop, which were enthusiastically endorsed by
delegates to the first National Congress of the National Union of Workers
(UNT) of Venezuela on August 1-2.

        

After
years of support for neo-liberalism by the Accion Democratica-dominated
Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) culminated in that
organisation?s involvement in the (quickly-overturned) coup of April 2002
against President Hugo Chavez and in the CTV?s subsequent support for the
business federation (Fedecamaras) in the ?general lock-out? of last
December-January, UNT (?UNETE?) was founded in April to provide a voice
and instrument for working people. This first Congress brought together
more than 1300 registered participants representing over 120 unions and
25 regional federations to determine the general outlines of the new
federation--- its internal statutes, election mechanisms, code of ethics,
basic principles and action programme.

        

The
greatest agreement and passion was over the principles and the action
plan. From the workshop on principles came the clear call for the
transformation of ?capitalist society into a self-managing society?, for
a ?new model of anti-capitalist and autonomous development that
emancipates human beings from class exploitation, oppression,
discrimination and exclusion'. This declaration for an autonomous,
democratic, solidaristic and internationalist, classist, independent,
unitary (representing the whole working class) movement with equality for
men and women was cheered by all those present at the plenary session. As
occurred at a number of points, the chant emerged--- ?the working class
united will never be defeated'!

        

The
meaning of many of these principles became clear in the points endorsed
for the programme of action. While the participants were unequivocal in
their support for many initiatives of the Chavez government (e.g. the
literacy programme, the introduction of Cuban doctors into poor
neighbourhoods, housing construction, the law suspending lay-offs and the
rejection of FTAA), their positions on nationalising the banks, the
external debt, and work hours among other aspects went far beyond the
current positions of the government. Further, UNT?s independence was
demonstrated by its strong positions against specific government
ministries--- demanding that inspectors of work who are anti-worker be
removed by the Ministry of Labour and criticising the Minister of Health
and calling for the declaration of a national emergency in health--- and
in its call for reforms within the state itself (to ?create the
revolution within the revolution?).

        

Where
there was less agreement, however, was with respect to internal statutes
and electoral procedures. For some, the Statutes were far too like those
of the CTV, an organisation infamous for its lack of internal democracy
and its corruption. Here, where there was much potential for division
over such matters as recall procedures, term limits, asset declarations,
proportional representation, distribution of dues etc, an important
decision was made--- go back to the base, i.e., send this back to the
individual unions for full discussion of the issues. The same decision
was made in relation to decisions about the 76 articles of electoral
regulations (even though only 6 were questioned)--- back to the base.
Since these were matters critical in providing the basis for, among other
things, the finance to carry out the struggle, it was decided that a
National Assembly of UNT would be convened within two months to resolve
these matters. The first national congress of UNT concluded with a
declaration condemning the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and its
Plan Colombia. ?Hasta la Victoria Siempre?, Che?s motto, could be heard
here--- as at other points.

        

The Unete
congress was an important step in turning away from what the Minister of
Labour Maria Cristina Iglesias has called
?the evil axis? of Fedecamaras and CTV. But, it was not a complete
success. For one, in the days before the Congress, UNT?s temporary 21
member steering committee (or portions of it) decided that the Unitary
Confederation of Workers (CUTV), an affiliate of the World Federation of
Trade Unions, which had been involved in the creation of UNT from the
outset, could not integrate with its regional organisations; as a result,
many of its militants stayed away from this congress. Further, a
conspicuous absence was that of Ramon Machuca, influential leader of the
Steelworkers Union (SUDISS), who had departed from early UNT discussions,
citing the need for more initial work at the base and the creation of
worker constituent assemblies around the country. (Opponents from the
most pro-Chavist element in UNT, the Bolivarian Forces of Workers, FBT,
argued the issue was Machuca?s desire to be leader of the new
federation.) But, the most conspicuous absence was that of Chavez
himself. Invited to close the Congress, Chavez was expected by the
organisers to crown the new organisation with his presence. Not only did
he not appear, but neither the vice-president nor the Minister of Labour
came to take his place.

        

Poor
coordination? The following day?s ?Alo Presidente? (Chavez?s weekly radio
and tv call-in programme) suggests that there may have been more to
Chavez?s absence. Along with calling attention to the UNT Congress,
Chavez made it a point to congratulate Machuca (?a friend?) on his
re-election last week as Steelworker leader (gaining 63% of the votes
against a strong rightwing challenge). It seemed a clear signal that what
is necessary is ?the working class united? and that the UNT Congress
should be seen as only a step in that process.

        

Far more
would be necessary to unite the working class, though, than simply
bringing UNT, the CUTV, the Machuca forces and locals still affiliated to
the CTV (or to nothing at all) together--- a process which might be best
accomplished through joint action (e.g., by uniting in the support of
workers who are occupying enterprises which owners are attempting to shut
down). Only 12% of working class in the formal sector of Venezuela, after
all, falls within these trade unions; outside them are vast numbers of
poor for whom the Chavez government is the first with which they can
identify. Although UNT?s commitment to the working class as a whole was
underlined by its emphasis upon the creation of committees of the
unemployed and the granting of tickets (food stamps) to buy food for
pensioners and the unemployed, the question remains--- what precisely is
to be the relationship between workers in the formal sector and the
roughly 50% in the informal sector, between organised trade unionists and
the broad masses that are organising in local communities? Bringing these
forces together would seem to be a priority if the working class is not
to be defeated.

        

The
reality of the polarised society that is modern Venezuela was quite
evident at the UNT Congress. The private TV stations (at the centre of
the last coup and any future ones) were nowhere to be seen; for their
viewers, the Congress was a non-event. The state TV station, on the other
hand, was conspicuous in its low-tech operations and its disruptive
talking-head interviews at the very points that the most significant
developments in the Congress were occurring. In the battle of ideas that
is occurring in Venezuela, a battle which pits the traditional governing
classes against the government of Hugo Chavez, overwhelming opposition
domination of the media creates a virtual reality which makes uniting of
the working class far more difficult than it should be.

---------------------

Michael A. Lebowitz

Professor Emeritus

Economics Department

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Office: Phone (604) 291-4669

         Fax   (604) 291-5944

Home:   Phone (604) 689-9510