Violations
Non-compliance with collective agreement at Pirelli: In January 2011 the Pirelli multinational company, in Carabobo State, refused to negotiate with its workers, to meet some of its obligations under the existing collective agreement, or to change its policy of not respecting its workers’ rights.
Violations of collective agreements and refusal to negotiate in the Guyana region : In February, aluminium workers from companies associated with the State holding company Corporación Venezolana de Guayana, in the South-East of the country, organised a series of stoppages to protest at contractual violations in the sector. They had been waiting four years for a new collective agreement, wage arrears remained unpaid and they faced constant violations of industrial health and safety standards.
Chrysler refuses to enter into collective bargaining at its car assembly plant: Workers at the Chrysler de Venezuela car assembly plant in Valencia, Carabobo State, held a five day protest beginning on 7 April. The company had refused to enter into
collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
after the presentation, in November 2010, of a list of conciliatory demands which included the regulation of better working conditions for employees, the payment of the agreed rest period, and improvements in health and safety at work.
Discrimination against workers in the judiciary : Leaders of the judiciary workers’ unions the Sindicato Unitario Organizado Nacional de Trabajadores de la Administración de Justicia (Suontraj) and the Sindicato Único Nacional de Empleados Públicos de la Judicatura (Sunep-Judicatura), publicly protested on 29 April at the Executive Directorate of the Judiciary (Dirección Ejecutiva de la Magistratura - DEM) which had refused to grant judges the pay rise given to all other civil servants. They were also protesting at the suspension of talks on a new collective agreement and the dismissal of 20 trade union leaders over the last two years.
Conditional release of trade union leader: Rubén González, General Secretary of the union representing workers at the iron mining company “CVG Ferrominera Orinoco”, who had been sentenced to 7 years, 6 months, 22 days and 12 hours in prison remained in prison until the end of 2010, after which he was given a conditional release, whereby he had to report to the courts every 45 days.
National Electoral Council invalidates Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CTV) structures : The National Electoral Council adopted a resolution aimed at annulling or withdrawing recognition
recognition
The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union.
from legitimate CTV structures. The CNE declared the Fifth CTV Congress held in March 2011 to elect the CTV’s new leaders null and void. It does not recognise the Electoral Committee elected at this event and claims that the CTV does not have a leadership structure. It therefore asked all affiliated organisations to convene a new CTV Congress, on the grounds that the Confederation is leaderless.
This interference by the CNE is aimed not only at getting involved in the trade unions’ electoral process but is also being used as a means of avoiding the discussion of collective agreements in the public sector and State enterprises, while favouring a parallel government-supported trade union, on the grounds of a so-called “electoral default”.
