VENEZUELA: “I’M ASHAMED TO SAY THAT I’M A BASIC INDUSTRY WORKER”

By Gladylis Flores

To be a worker in a basic industry in Guayana, Bolívar state, used to be prestigious. The quality of life of a basic industry worker was superior to that of a public administration employee because of the benefits they had thanks to the collective agreement of each company. But this has changed in recent years: agreements are unfulfilled and those who denounce it are persecuted.

The subsidiary companies of the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (Corporación Venezolana of Guayana, CVG) do not currently have pay grades, so all workers have the same salary. This is a result of the wage increase following currency conversion in 2018.

This sparked a wave of protests in the region that lasted approximately four months, resulting in the imprisonment of Rubén González, representative of the CVG Ferrominera Union and leader of the protests. He is currently imprisoned in La Pica prison in Monagas state and is being tried by a military tribunal.

His family has repeatedly denounced the conditions in which he is being held. Nine other workers from the state-owned iron company and three from CVG Venalum were also arrested, along with the president of the Unique Union of Aluminum Professionals (Sindicato Único de Profesionales Universitarios de Venalum, Sutrapuval), José Hidalgo. All had denounced violations of collective agreements.

Persecution to workers

In addition to the arrests, persecutions have not stopped. The Intersectorial of Workers of Guayana, a coalition of unionists from stateowned companies, has denounced that some of its members suffered harassment at their jobs.

The most affected are the leaders of the trade unions of CVG, of which Pedro Maldonado is the CEO. Noel Hernández, CVG’s labor director, was fired from his position, while Ramón Gómez, general secretary of the Public Employees of CVG Union (Sindicato de Empleados Públicos de CVG, Sunep), was forced to retire —without having reached the minimum retirement age or completed the required years of service.

“Since Rubén González was arrested, a stronger persecution began against all of us. Since November, they requested authorization to fire me to the Labor Inspectorate for claiming our labor rights,” Aristóteles Maneiro, who worked as a supervisor of heavy equipment operation in the CVG, explains.

The worker claims that the order to fire him was given by the Corporation’s CEO after his participation in an interview on a national television channel, in which he denounced the poor conditions of basic industries in Guayana.

Decimated quality of life

“José Fermín” (name changed to protect identity) has been working at CVG Ferrominera for 34 years and is close to his retirement. He is afraid to give statements for fear of being fired or victim of some other retaliation from the company.

He says that in order to stretch out the salary he receives from the company, where he works as administrative staff, he must sell ice cream, lollipops and ice in his home, together with his wife, who is also an employee of CVG.

“The salary is not enough for the market basket, much less to buy clothes. That’s why we have to do what it takes to make ends meet, but we barely eat protein. Thank God my two older children moved out, so we are only three people at home,” says Fermín.

He learned to use public transportation again, because two years ago his car was stolen and he has not been able to buy a new one. This is why he often misses work and is left out of the food bag benefit, on which he depends to complete the food for his household.

After spending the best years of his life in the company, raising his children, traveling around the country on the holidays and having a health insurance that covered all his needs, Fermín’s days have become all about survival.

This is not what workers expect after spending many years of their lives in a company. However, it is the case of many retirees, who envisioned their retirement differently, thinking they would be to be able to enjoy their final years.

“My life plan for retirement was to buy a little house in Caripe, take cooking classes and open a restaurant. The retirement money was not even enough for grocery shopping. Now I have to look for medicines all day and stretch out the money to buy food,” says Gloria Álvarez, a retiree from CVG Venalum.

The situation of retirees is similar to that of active workers, since their pay is unrelated to the job they had —they all receive minimum wage.

The various unions and the Intersectorial of Workers of Guayana have reported the deterioration in their quality of life, as well as all the persecution they have suffered in the last few years. However, many continue to work for the recovery of Guayana’s industrial park despite the harassment.