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6 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 70/2000
The Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is facing international trade union protests over its attempt to circumvent collective bargaining.
Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), today urged PDVSA President Hector Ciavaldini to get back to genuine negotiations with the oil workers' union representatives.
Last March, Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly - now defunct - issued several decrees which led to complaints to the UN's International Labour Organisation over violations of its basic Conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining.
One of the decrees suspended the ongoing collective bargaining process between PDVSA and trade unions in the oil and gas sector, a case which the ICEM-affiliated Venezuelan oil workers' federation Fedepetrol took to the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Before the suspension, about 95% of the clauses in the collective agreement were already agreed upon.
Some of the key articles in the decree have not been put into practice. Union elections in the oil industry, which had been promised by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, have not so far been organised, even though the unions have not opposed them at any moment.
A few days ago, as the deadline established by the decree to resume negotiations on the agreement drew closer, the company management carried out a "consultation" of the PDVSA workers in an attempt to disregard the draft under negotiation and to substitute instead a new "modern contract". The "consultation" took place without the participation of unions or the Labour Ministry, and without supervision by the National Electoral Commission which is the only body authorised to take such measures.
According to results announced by the PDVSA management, 56% of the workers approved the proposal to develop a new contract. However, the unions suspect fraud, and Labour Minister Lino Martínez has questioned the legality and legitimacy of the "consultation".
In his fax to Ciavaldini today, Higgs protested against this interference by the PDVSA management, which is aimed at depriving the workers of their right to free collective bargaining through their representative trade unions. Higgs urged "the re-establishment of the bargaining process between the company and the unions", and "the creation of the necessary conditions for a transparent union election process."
Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), today urged PDVSA President Hector Ciavaldini to get back to genuine negotiations with the oil workers' union representatives.
Last March, Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly - now defunct - issued several decrees which led to complaints to the UN's International Labour Organisation over violations of its basic Conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining.
One of the decrees suspended the ongoing collective bargaining process between PDVSA and trade unions in the oil and gas sector, a case which the ICEM-affiliated Venezuelan oil workers' federation Fedepetrol took to the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Before the suspension, about 95% of the clauses in the collective agreement were already agreed upon.
Some of the key articles in the decree have not been put into practice. Union elections in the oil industry, which had been promised by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, have not so far been organised, even though the unions have not opposed them at any moment.
A few days ago, as the deadline established by the decree to resume negotiations on the agreement drew closer, the company management carried out a "consultation" of the PDVSA workers in an attempt to disregard the draft under negotiation and to substitute instead a new "modern contract". The "consultation" took place without the participation of unions or the Labour Ministry, and without supervision by the National Electoral Commission which is the only body authorised to take such measures.
According to results announced by the PDVSA management, 56% of the workers approved the proposal to develop a new contract. However, the unions suspect fraud, and Labour Minister Lino Martínez has questioned the legality and legitimacy of the "consultation".
In his fax to Ciavaldini today, Higgs protested against this interference by the PDVSA management, which is aimed at depriving the workers of their right to free collective bargaining through their representative trade unions. Higgs urged "the re-establishment of the bargaining process between the company and the unions", and "the creation of the necessary conditions for a transparent union election process."