Venezuela's new Labour Law for Workers (Lottt) came into effect this week, guaranteeing shorter working hours, longer maternity leave and pensions for all Venezuelans.
The Venezuelan government appointed new management and renewed investment in the state-owned conglomerate Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) and its subsidiaries, in efforts to raise production in Venezuela's industrial sector.
Today both pro-government and opposition supporters held large marches in Caracas, as well as smaller ones around the country, to mark International Workers Day. While government supporters celebrated a minimum wage increase and the labour law, opponents of the government demanded a “fair wage”.
Labor Minister Maria Cristina Iglesias announced this week that the Labor Ministry will be intensifying meetings with public sector and state-run companies in the upcoming weeks to ensure the correct application of the Labor Law for Workers.
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 violent dispersal of a protest by workers and the subsequent arrest of several prominent union leaders has generated an angry response among the Venezuelan labour movement.
The 34,000 employees who work at the Polar Business food production conglomerate in Venezuela have denounced what they describe as a violation of their labour and social rights, and have accused the company of attempting to destabilise the country in the run up to the presidential elections on October 7th.
Organised workers at Venezuela's state-owned steel plant Sidor have spoken out against the Venezuelan government’s decision to dismiss the factory's president Carlos D’Oliveira earlier this month.
The President of the National Institute of Statistics, Elías Eljuri, said Thursday that four million jobs have been created in Venezuela in the last 11 years, which shows the development of the country’s economy and the effective social policies promoted by President Hugo Chávez.
The Andean city of Merida has been rocked over the past week by a number of worker-led protests as sub-contracted employees from the University of the Andes (ULA) demanded that they be made permanent staff in compliance with Venezuela’s new labor law.
On Monday May 21, there was a foiled attempt against the life of comrade Abraham Rivas. Rivas is General Secretary of the National Union of Workers of Helados EFE (SINATRASOHE), a revolutionary Bolivarian activist and a supporter of the Marxist tendency Lucha de Clases.
On Monday, May 21, an armed person entered the EFE ice cream factory (part of the POLAR group) in Caracas and asked to see Abraham Rivas, the main trade union leader and a member of the Marxist tendency Lucha de Clases (Class Struggle). When confronted about his suspicious behaviour by Abraham and other workers, he was found to be carrying a gun.
The government has revealed that there are about 3.7 million independent workers in Venezuela who could potentially benefit from the reforms to the Law on Social Security in Venezuela, enacted on April 21 by President Hugo Chávez.
Following the passing of the new labour law yesterday, Venezuelans celebrated May Day en masse today, many catching buses to Caracas for the main march, others joining the smaller marches in cities and towns around the country.
