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7 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 83/2000
Venezuelan oil workers ended a four-day strike on Saturday after winning a new collective agreement.
Bargaining for the deal between the oilworkers' union Fedepetrol and state-owned oil giant PDVSA had taken almost a year. The negotiations were greatly complicated by the company's attempts to extricate itself from an agreement that had long been almost ready for signature.
Last March, the Venezuelan 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 Fedepetrol took to the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Before the suspension, about 95 percent of the clauses in the collective agreement were already agreed upon.
This August, as the decree's deadline for a resumption of negotiations 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 percent of the workers approved the proposal to develop a new contract. However, the unions suspected fraud, and Labour Minister Lino Martínez also questioned the legality and legitimacy of the "consultation". The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) protested to the PDVSA management about this manoeuvre and urged a return to genuine bargaining. Fedepetrol is an ICEM affiliate.
Doubts about the "consultation" were borne out last week when about 95 percent of the PDVSA workers followed the union's strike call. If the action had continued, it would have led to fuel shortages inside Venezuela and would also soon have had an international impact. PDVSA is a big supplier of crude to the US.
Oilworkers' basic pay will rise by 5,000 bolivares (about US$7.25) a day under the new agreement. The current minimum daily rate is about US$14.00. There will be a further increase of 1,000 bolivares a day from next February. In addition, the company will pay out an extra 2.5 million bolivares in bonuses, and the minimum retirement pension will go up to 250,000 bolivares a month.
The union is "happy but not satisfied" with the agreement, Fedepetrol President Carlos Ortega said. Praising his members' courage, he pledged that the union would "continue working, within the industry, to improve the quality of workers' lives."
The strikers received major national and international support. Venezuelan public employees threatened to come out in solidarity, while ICEM Regional Secretary Roque da Silva urged PDVSA President Hector Ciavaldini to respect ILO standards and to sign the collective agreement, thus ending the strike.
The dispute should "teach the government a lesson," said Fedepetrol's Carlos Ortega.
It seems to have done so.
Over the weekend, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez sacked Hector Ciavaldini. The new head of PDVSA is General Guaicaipuro Lameda. Just what all this means is not yet clear. Most recently, the general has been in charge of Venezuela's Budget Office, but the Caracas daily El Universal describes him as "a military engineer specialised in strategic planning and national security."
Be that as it may, President Chávez said that the workers' strike had drawn his attention to the oil industry. He promised to take a close personal look at the industry's accounts and deals - and at the very generous pension schemes enjoyed by some of its top directors.
Bargaining for the deal between the oilworkers' union Fedepetrol and state-owned oil giant PDVSA had taken almost a year. The negotiations were greatly complicated by the company's attempts to extricate itself from an agreement that had long been almost ready for signature.
Last March, the Venezuelan 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 Fedepetrol took to the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Before the suspension, about 95 percent of the clauses in the collective agreement were already agreed upon.
This August, as the decree's deadline for a resumption of negotiations 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 percent of the workers approved the proposal to develop a new contract. However, the unions suspected fraud, and Labour Minister Lino Martínez also questioned the legality and legitimacy of the "consultation". The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) protested to the PDVSA management about this manoeuvre and urged a return to genuine bargaining. Fedepetrol is an ICEM affiliate.
Doubts about the "consultation" were borne out last week when about 95 percent of the PDVSA workers followed the union's strike call. If the action had continued, it would have led to fuel shortages inside Venezuela and would also soon have had an international impact. PDVSA is a big supplier of crude to the US.
Oilworkers' basic pay will rise by 5,000 bolivares (about US$7.25) a day under the new agreement. The current minimum daily rate is about US$14.00. There will be a further increase of 1,000 bolivares a day from next February. In addition, the company will pay out an extra 2.5 million bolivares in bonuses, and the minimum retirement pension will go up to 250,000 bolivares a month.
The union is "happy but not satisfied" with the agreement, Fedepetrol President Carlos Ortega said. Praising his members' courage, he pledged that the union would "continue working, within the industry, to improve the quality of workers' lives."
The strikers received major national and international support. Venezuelan public employees threatened to come out in solidarity, while ICEM Regional Secretary Roque da Silva urged PDVSA President Hector Ciavaldini to respect ILO standards and to sign the collective agreement, thus ending the strike.
The dispute should "teach the government a lesson," said Fedepetrol's Carlos Ortega.
It seems to have done so.
Over the weekend, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez sacked Hector Ciavaldini. The new head of PDVSA is General Guaicaipuro Lameda. Just what all this means is not yet clear. Most recently, the general has been in charge of Venezuela's Budget Office, but the Caracas daily El Universal describes him as "a military engineer specialised in strategic planning and national security."
Be that as it may, President Chávez said that the workers' strike had drawn his attention to the oil industry. He promised to take a close personal look at the industry's accounts and deals - and at the very generous pension schemes enjoyed by some of its top directors.