Unions March in Venezuela over Labor Rights

Punto Fijo, December 13^th, 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Union representatives from the labor organization Unete marched through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday to demand a resolution to various labor conflicts in public and private companies.

The march ended outside the Labor Ministry where the National Union of Workers (Unete) held a protest and were received by National Labor Inspector Juan Carlos Toro.

The protest comes after several union leaders were arrested last week in the state of Carabobo after protesting a court’s decision regarding an on-going strike there. However, union leaders also demanded resolution to more than 150 separate labor conflicts across the country.

In addition, union leaders said there were 130 new labor conflicts that they would be submitting to the Labor Ministry.

Most of the conflicts are related to a lack of collective contracts, attacks on union organizing, and the lack of a response from the government on various labor situations.

The National Labor Inspector listened to the union complaints and informed them that some of the conflicts submitted by Unete that concerned private sector firms had already been resolved.

However, union leaders assured that they would continue fighting until all the cases were resolved. New activities were announced for the coming year, including a request for the Supreme Court to nullify certain articles of the Labor Law that they claim are harmful to labor organizing.

Labor leaders insisted that it is the duty of the state to protect workers’ rights and not criminalize protests, as they did last week in Carabobo.