Workers in Venezuelan State Run Companies Protest Bureaucratic Management
Aug 30th 2013, by Ewan Robertson [image: Lacteos Los Andes workers gathering for a protest and meeting with the Venezuelan presidency on Tuesday (Aporrea)] Lacteos Los Andes workers gathering for a protest and meeting with the Venezuelan presidency on Tuesday (Aporrea) [image: The occupation in the state run Pedro Camejo agricultural machinery and transport company, in the western state of Yaracuy (Pren] The occupation in the state run Pedro Camejo agricultural machinery and transport company, in the western state of Yaracuy (Prensa Comité de Conflicto Empresa Socialista Pedro Camejo) Mérida, 30th August 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) Workers in several Venezuelan state owned companies have launched protests against what they call bureaucratic management, instead advocating that the companies be run under a worker control model. Workers at the state run Lacteos Los Andes gained important concessions from the government this week after protesting management irregularities in the company, which makes milk, yogurt, and juice, among other products. 300 workers from Lacteos demonstrated last Monday outside the countrys National Assembly to highlight what workers described as a sabotage of company production by management and the minister for food, Felix Osorio. Problems at the plant included a lack of primary materials being delivered for production and a fall in the number of trucks arriving at factory installations to distribute Lacteos Los Andes products. Workers charged management as trying to make the nationalised company fail as part of a plan to hand it over to the right wing bourgeoisie business people. In a meeting with representatives of the Venezuelan presidency on Tuesday, Lacteos workers put forth their main concerns and demands, which were: lack of imported materials and containers for production, poor company administration, the withholding of accounting information, and above all not taking workers contributions into account. We have an unresponsive management that hasnt done anything. The solution is to remove that management, and open an administrative, civil and penal investigation this [company situation] can be solved with worker control, said one worker to Aporrea. As a result of the meeting, the Maduro presidency decided to dismiss Lacteos management, and guarantee the import and delivery of all materials required for the companys production. Lacteos workers further proposed to the executive that the company be run under a model of worker self-management, or worker control. On Thursday workers were set to debate this in a workers council meeting, aiming to propose one of their own to occupy the position of worker president at the company. According to Aporrea, Lacteos workers trust that President Maduro will fulfil agreements reached [with workers] to put Lacteos Los Andes back on a level footing. *Further protests* The struggle in Lacteos is one of several labour mobilisations in state run companies against management in recent weeks, including the successful effort by worker-run Diana Industries to avoid the imposition of a businessman as manager. On Wednesday employees in state run food distributer PDVAL marched to the presidential palace at Miraflores to protest labour conditions and treatment by management. Workers said they do not enjoy a collective contract, and they did not receive an across the board pay rise granted to public sector workers earlier this year. PDVAL workers have since met with management and reportedly reached some agreements in order to move forward. However workers sent a message to President Maduro that they do not regard recent incidents in Lacteos Los Andes, PDVAL and Diana Industries as isolated, warning the president against a fifth column dressed in red in state companies. Were going to lose the revolution, Maduro, if we dont get organised, said one worker, according to Aporrea. Meanwhile, in the state owned Pedro Camejo agricultural machinery and transport company, workers and farmers have occupied factory installations in the western state of Yaracuy. In a press release on Wednesday, workers said they were fighting against the idleness and lack of attention of management, which has failed to procure necessary machinery parts, putting the coming harvest in danger. The workers also argued for the implementation of a worker control model at the company. The occupation also has the support of various grassroots groups, the Hugo Chavez Frias commune, and the local mayoral candidate for the governments United Socialist Party (PSUV), who argued for the companys management to be replaced. ------------------------------ *Source URL (retrieved on 01/09/2013 - 9:02am):* http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/9991 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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