Deepest Red
10-27-2005, 02:26 PM
Venezuelan trade unionists discuss workers’ management and factory occupations
By Jorge Martin in Caracas - www.handsoffvenezuela.org
Workers' representatives and trade union activists from around the country met in Caracas on October 21-22, in the National Gathering of Workers towards the Recovery of Companies. The main aim of this meeting, called by Venezuela’s National Workers’ Union (UNT), was to bring together workers involved in experiences of factory occupations and different forms of workers’ management.
The meeting was called in preparation for the 1st Latin American Gathering of Companies Recovered by the Workers, which will take place in Caracas on October 27-29. (http://www.mintra.gov.ve/encuentro_latinoamericano/). The Latin American Gathering is jointly organised by workers in occupied factories in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela, the Venezuelan UNT and the Uruguayan PITCNT, and has the support of the Ministry of Labour in Venezuela. Workers from occupied and recovered factories from Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, Perú, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Panama will participate.
At the National Gathering there were workers present from Invepal (formerly Venepal), where the workers had struggled for expropriation under workers’ control of the paper mill that had been declared bankrupt by its formers owners. There were also representatives from Inveval (formerly CNV), the valve-making factory which the workers had occupied for more than two years. The workers finally won the expropriation of the factory under some sort of workers’ management. There were also workers from the state owned electricity generator and distributor CADAFE, where the attempts of the workers to introduce cogestion (as workers’ management is known here) have clashed with the attempt of the managers of the company to maintain their decision making power. A total of 200 workers from all over the country, both from the public and private sector, were present.
One of the first speakers at the gathering was Eduardo Murua, president of the Argentinean “Movement of Recovered Companies - MNER” (http://www.mnerweb.com.ar/). He explained the experience of factory occupations in Argentina as an alternative in the struggle against unemployment and the destruction of jobs. The main emphasis of his speech was on the idea that the workers can only rely on their own struggle and on their own strength and said that workers in Venezuela should take the initiative themselves and not wait for the government to give them the green light. He argued that if a factory is closed down by the employers “the workers should occupy it, try to start production, and discuss the legal aspects later”. He also explained how the MNER has managed to achieve higher wages and shorter working hours than in similar companies in the private sector, and then linked their experience to the struggle of workers in private capitalist enterprises for the same conditions.
Minister of Labour: factory occupations not a problem but the solution to a problem
Also present at the meeting was Minister of Labour Maria Cristina Iglesias. She explained how the idea for the Latin American Gathering had come from the workers themselves, particularly workers from recovered companies in Argentina, Brasil and Uruguay. It was they, together with a number of trade unions in the continent, that had asked President Chavez whether Venezuela would host such a meeting. Iglesias said that when workers occupy factories that have been abandoned and try to restart production, this should not be seen “as a problem but rather as a solution to a problem” caused by the bosses closing down these companies. She added that not taking action would be like “dying of hunger in a supermarket and not daring to open a tin of sardines”. She emphasised that while there is unemployment maintaining a “factory closed is a crime”.
continue (http://www.marxismonline.com/modules.php?name=ForumNews&id=440)
By Jorge Martin in Caracas - www.handsoffvenezuela.org
Workers' representatives and trade union activists from around the country met in Caracas on October 21-22, in the National Gathering of Workers towards the Recovery of Companies. The main aim of this meeting, called by Venezuela’s National Workers’ Union (UNT), was to bring together workers involved in experiences of factory occupations and different forms of workers’ management.
The meeting was called in preparation for the 1st Latin American Gathering of Companies Recovered by the Workers, which will take place in Caracas on October 27-29. (http://www.mintra.gov.ve/encuentro_latinoamericano/). The Latin American Gathering is jointly organised by workers in occupied factories in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela, the Venezuelan UNT and the Uruguayan PITCNT, and has the support of the Ministry of Labour in Venezuela. Workers from occupied and recovered factories from Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, Perú, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Panama will participate.
At the National Gathering there were workers present from Invepal (formerly Venepal), where the workers had struggled for expropriation under workers’ control of the paper mill that had been declared bankrupt by its formers owners. There were also representatives from Inveval (formerly CNV), the valve-making factory which the workers had occupied for more than two years. The workers finally won the expropriation of the factory under some sort of workers’ management. There were also workers from the state owned electricity generator and distributor CADAFE, where the attempts of the workers to introduce cogestion (as workers’ management is known here) have clashed with the attempt of the managers of the company to maintain their decision making power. A total of 200 workers from all over the country, both from the public and private sector, were present.
One of the first speakers at the gathering was Eduardo Murua, president of the Argentinean “Movement of Recovered Companies - MNER” (http://www.mnerweb.com.ar/). He explained the experience of factory occupations in Argentina as an alternative in the struggle against unemployment and the destruction of jobs. The main emphasis of his speech was on the idea that the workers can only rely on their own struggle and on their own strength and said that workers in Venezuela should take the initiative themselves and not wait for the government to give them the green light. He argued that if a factory is closed down by the employers “the workers should occupy it, try to start production, and discuss the legal aspects later”. He also explained how the MNER has managed to achieve higher wages and shorter working hours than in similar companies in the private sector, and then linked their experience to the struggle of workers in private capitalist enterprises for the same conditions.
Minister of Labour: factory occupations not a problem but the solution to a problem
Also present at the meeting was Minister of Labour Maria Cristina Iglesias. She explained how the idea for the Latin American Gathering had come from the workers themselves, particularly workers from recovered companies in Argentina, Brasil and Uruguay. It was they, together with a number of trade unions in the continent, that had asked President Chavez whether Venezuela would host such a meeting. Iglesias said that when workers occupy factories that have been abandoned and try to restart production, this should not be seen “as a problem but rather as a solution to a problem” caused by the bosses closing down these companies. She added that not taking action would be like “dying of hunger in a supermarket and not daring to open a tin of sardines”. She emphasised that while there is unemployment maintaining a “factory closed is a crime”.
continue (http://www.marxismonline.com/modules.php?name=ForumNews&id=440)