>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >FOCUS-Venezuela oil unions halt national strike > >Updated 7:34 PM ET March 3, 2000 > >By Paul Hughes >CARACAS, March 3 (Reuters) - An indefinite nationwide strike by Venezuelan >oil workers ended abruptly after just 11 hours Friday when the government >published a decree that effectively made the strike illegal. > >Union leaders, who had called the strike to pressure the state oil company >to resume labor contract talks, called the government action "an ambush" >and said it was part of a "war" against unions in the world's third largest >oil exporter. > >"This is an ambush ... This is the start of a persecution, a psychological >war against Venezuelan oil workers and the rest of the country's workers," >Carlos Ortega, president of the country's main oil union Fedepetrol, told a >news conference. > >The short-lived strike, the worst labor conflict since President Hugo >Chavez took office a year ago, pitted the left-leaning government against >opposition-controlled labor unions it has labeled "corrupt" and out of >touch with workers. >Chavez, whose anti-corruption platform and sweeping political reforms are >wildly popular in the South American country of 24 million people, has >promised to "bury" the traditional unions and replace them with new >movements with more democratic regulations. > >"Every single one of the strike calls which you unions make is going to be >defeated because the workers have have grown tired of being tricked," he >said during a televised address. >Critics charge that Chavez's crusade against the unions forms part of a >plan to drive every trace of opposition out of public institutions. > >Oil unions started the indefinite strike at 5.00 a.m. (0900 GMT) after >state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) refused to resume >negotiations of a two-year labor contract which expired last November. >A government-controlled Constitutional Assembly approved a decree in >January ordering the suspension of the oil labor talks for 180 days until >unions hold internal elections to choose new leaders. > >STRIKERS COULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED >Publication of the decree in the government's Official Gazette Friday >afternoon made it legally-binding. > >"We're not backing down. But the only alternative is to put the workers >outside the law," said Ortega, adding that failure to obey the decree would >allow PDVSA to dismiss strikers. >Union leaders insisted that the strike had been a complete success, with >more than 90 percent of the country's 40,000 oil workers joining the >walkout. >PDVSA, on the other hand, labeled the the strike a "total failure". It said >that only 10 percent of oil workers had obeyed the strike call and that its >2.72 million barrels per day production had been totally unaffected. > >PDVSA President Hector Ciavaldini said the end of the strike was "nobody's >victory, but the defeat of the corrupt old unionism which we've been >fighting." >"Operations at no moment were affected by any means," he told reporters at >Miraflores presidential palace. > >Amid a bitter war of words between the two sides, it was not possible to >independently confirm the success of the walkout. >Ciavaldini said that PDVSA would start direct labor negotiations with its >employees next week. He said company representatives would go to refineries >and wells to talk to the workers. > >"This isn't a fight against unions, it's a fight against corrupt unions," >he said. >During the strike, PDVSA put into action a well-rehearsed contingency plan >which included the use of non-unionized workers to replace strikers and >military troops who guarded installations. >((Caracas newsroom, +582 505-2600 fax +582 861-3621 > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
