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7 March, 2000Despite national and international protests, the Venezuelan government thumbs its nose at the world.
VENEZUELA: A new and urgent call for solidarity with the Venezuelan trade union movement has been issued today by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Since coming to power in early 1999, President Hugo Chavez and his government have shown a continuous disregard for workers' fundamental human and trade union rights.
Following the inauguration of the National Constituent Assembly in mid-1999, a series of decrees were approved allowing government authorities to obstruct the normal functioning and the independence of trade union organisations. Measures taken by virtue of the decrees have made the fundamental rights of all workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining impossible to implement.
The ICFTU says that despite pressure from both national and international trade unions and repeated interventions by the International Labour Organisation, as well as promises by the Venezuelan authorities to amend the decrees in line with international labour standards and their own National Constitution, the decrees were published, without modification, in the official government gazette on March 2. This makes the decrees official and immediately applicable.
Joining the ICFTU call for solidarity with the trade unions of Venezuela, the IMF has written to government authorities to condemn their blatant disregard for workers' fundamental human and trade union rights, and to call into question the very way in which Venezuela is being governed.
Organisations wishing to join the protest action should write to the following:
- Sr. Hugo Chavez Frias, Presidente de la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela, Palacio de Miraflores, Caracas, Fax: 0058-2-801.36.44
- Sr. Luis Miquelena, Presidente Comision Legislativa Nacional, Palacio Federal Legislativo, Caracas, Fax: 0058-2-482.95.16
- Sr. Lino Martinez, Ministro de Trabajo (Minister of Labour), Fax: 0058-2-483.68.66
with copies to:
- CTV trade union confederation, Fax: 0058-2-574.19.94 or e-mail: [email protected]
Following the inauguration of the National Constituent Assembly in mid-1999, a series of decrees were approved allowing government authorities to obstruct the normal functioning and the independence of trade union organisations. Measures taken by virtue of the decrees have made the fundamental rights of all workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining impossible to implement.
The ICFTU says that despite pressure from both national and international trade unions and repeated interventions by the International Labour Organisation, as well as promises by the Venezuelan authorities to amend the decrees in line with international labour standards and their own National Constitution, the decrees were published, without modification, in the official government gazette on March 2. This makes the decrees official and immediately applicable.
Joining the ICFTU call for solidarity with the trade unions of Venezuela, the IMF has written to government authorities to condemn their blatant disregard for workers' fundamental human and trade union rights, and to call into question the very way in which Venezuela is being governed.
Organisations wishing to join the protest action should write to the following:
- Sr. Hugo Chavez Frias, Presidente de la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela, Palacio de Miraflores, Caracas, Fax: 0058-2-801.36.44
- Sr. Luis Miquelena, Presidente Comision Legislativa Nacional, Palacio Federal Legislativo, Caracas, Fax: 0058-2-482.95.16
- Sr. Lino Martinez, Ministro de Trabajo (Minister of Labour), Fax: 0058-2-483.68.66
with copies to:
- CTV trade union confederation, Fax: 0058-2-574.19.94 or e-mail: [email protected]