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18 May, 2000A prominent Venezuelan trade union leader, Andrés Mercau, feels strong fear and concern for what is going on in his country.
VENEZUELA: Andrés Mercau, since 25 years general secretary of the Federación de trabajadores Metalúrgicos, Mineros, Mecánicos y sus similares de Venezuela (FETRAMETAL), is more worried than ever for what president Hugo Chavéz is attempting to do to the unions.
"Chávez and his government is threatening and attacking us. He wants to control the workers and the trade unions," says Mercau. "He is intervening in the trade unions' activities by trying to organise the process of elections within the unions. He wants to give participation to the political parties which are supporting him. He is leading a campaign on television and in the written press to tell workers that trade unions are something else than they are said to be."
As part of the so-called 'radical reform process', Chávez has published a decree which foresees the dissolution of the national trade union organisation in Venezuela, the Workers' Confederation of Venezuela (CTV). The decree also targets the 3,000 trade unions affiliated to the CVT, among them FETRAMETAL, and provides for the confiscation of trade union assets. There is no collective bargaining for the moment.
The president is up for reelection on May 28. In December 1998, the ex-colonel Chávez was democratically elected president to improve the situation for the country's impoverished masses. But, in reality, poverty has increased to include more than 80 per cent of the population. Chávez' economic policy has not been successful. Last year the economy shrank by 7 per cent. Mercau says that unemployment has now reached approximately 20 per cent. "Salaries are low. A metalworker earns the equivalent of about US$200 per month, whereas the subsistence minimum is US$320 per month. Chávez promises to give people bread, but he is more like a circus performer."
"Chávez and his government is threatening and attacking us. He wants to control the workers and the trade unions," says Mercau. "He is intervening in the trade unions' activities by trying to organise the process of elections within the unions. He wants to give participation to the political parties which are supporting him. He is leading a campaign on television and in the written press to tell workers that trade unions are something else than they are said to be."
As part of the so-called 'radical reform process', Chávez has published a decree which foresees the dissolution of the national trade union organisation in Venezuela, the Workers' Confederation of Venezuela (CTV). The decree also targets the 3,000 trade unions affiliated to the CVT, among them FETRAMETAL, and provides for the confiscation of trade union assets. There is no collective bargaining for the moment.
The president is up for reelection on May 28. In December 1998, the ex-colonel Chávez was democratically elected president to improve the situation for the country's impoverished masses. But, in reality, poverty has increased to include more than 80 per cent of the population. Chávez' economic policy has not been successful. Last year the economy shrank by 7 per cent. Mercau says that unemployment has now reached approximately 20 per cent. "Salaries are low. A metalworker earns the equivalent of about US$200 per month, whereas the subsistence minimum is US$320 per month. Chávez promises to give people bread, but he is more like a circus performer."