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Rival
factions clashed at the second national Congress of Venezuela's
National Workers Union (UNT), held in Caracas, May 25-27. Over 2000
voting delegates and 1000 supporting union members attended the
Congress, which ended in disarray when a group of dissident delegates
split off from the main group and held a smaller, parallel gathering.
The two groups failed to agree on a date for Federation-wide elections.
UNT: A New Voice for Labor
The
UNT has not held elections since it was founded in August 2003 by
workers opposed to the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers' (CTV)
support of the 2002 oil field lockouts. Workers overwhelmingly opposed
the lockout and the CTV stance. Prior to this, CTV also opposed the
1989 Caracazo protests and failed to challenge the wave of
privatization of public services in the 1990's. CTV affiliated unions
typically have unelected leadership who act unchallenged in their
authority for years.
In
three short years, the UNT Federation has grown exponentially and now
represents nearly all public sector workers. In 2004, UNT-affiliated
unions won about 50% of private-sector collective contracts, compared
to 45% for the CTV. Though the numbers of represented workers are hard
to gauge, simply put, the UNT is the best available route to galvanize
a powerful, democratic voice for working people in pro-Bolivarian
Venezuela. UNT-affiliated unions must elect their leadership and their
delegates to the UNT structure.
Still,
the young movement has yet to resolve in-house and international
demands for internal democratic elections, which are considered a key
factor in defining the "revolutionary" voice for labor in Venezuela.
What should "Bolivarian" unionism look like?
Another
hot topic is the level of autonomy the organized labor movement should
enjoy in relation to the Bolivarian/Chavez government. All currents
within the UNT support Chavez and have committed to winning the
President 10 million votes in the upcoming Fall election. Most currents
also agree that labor should enjoy some level of autonomy from the
government. However, some claim that organized labor should challenge
the government wherever necessary. Others want a labor movement more in
concert with Chavez' goals, such as developing worker-run factories.
The big factor here is the union representation at state-run facilities.
Jonah Gindin, writing in the June 2005 Monthly Review,
described the autonomy debate facing the UNT, "How can the new
federation balance cooperation with the government and union autonomy?
How can they achieve worker control that is rooted in the agency of
workers, rather than in the benevolence of the state?"
The Second National Congress
On
Friday May 26, 2006 the delegates at the Congress separated into five
work groups to resolve the following questions: Declaration of
Principles and Type of Federation that we want 2) the Reform of
Federation Statutes 3) Plan and Program of Struggle 4) the working
class organizing plan for President Chavez's Re-election and 5) The UNT
Electoral Process.
Supporters of the Unified, Classist*, Revolutionary and Autonomous Current (C-CURA en Español), led by Orlando Chirino (click here
for an April 2006 English language w/ Chirino) and Stalín Perez Borges,
loaded the electoral table and pressed for September elections. The
Bolivarian Workers Front (FBT), with its ties to the Chavez-government
and ex-FBT leader of Marcela Máspero and Franklin Rondón--a public
sector union leader--supported a proposal to hold elections before
April 2007. Ostensibly, their efforts are bureaucratic moves to delay
what is perceived to be a likely electoral victory for Orlando Chirino.
On
May 27th when the working groups re-convened, C-CURA members moved that
the Election Group forward the September 15th elections proposal to the
General Assembly for full ratification. Members of other factions
resisted and tried to shout down the stage proceedings by chanting, "10
million votes and Chavez first!" Others chanted, "Elections NOW!" The
working group ended in chaos, but C-CURA members opined that a majority
of delegates in the Working Group supported the proposal and it was
considered "approved."
After
the working session "ended," smaller factions unified, walked out of
the Congress and held a gathering of 300 or so workers on a nearby
hillside. According to a statement by FBT-leader Rafael Chacón
delegates went outside to, "unanimously approve each of the proposals
from the distinct working groups, agreeing on UNT elections for the
first trimester of 2007."
According
to a C-CURA press release and accompanying photos, 700 delegates
remained in the gathered General Assembly, which approved the Sept. 15
proposal. It remains unclear how this two-election scenario will play
out. Over 1000 delegates abandoned the Congress altogether and did not
partake in either process.
Accusations
flew from all sides that "CTV thuggery and bureaucratic tactics" were
being employed. Other accusations flew that some UNT currents weren't
showing sufficient allegiance to Chavez.
A statement by the smaller Revolutionary Marxist Current (CMR),
which did not participate in the walkout, criticized both sides saying,
"Marcela, Orlando and the FBT leadership have disgracefully focused
themselves on the elections debate and haven't tackled the main job: to
put the Venezuelan working class at the front of this revolution to
bring us to socialism." The statement suggests that the national
leadership name a coordinating body, proportionally based on the
support within the existing currents, to resolve the election date
question.
The
CMR statement later warned, "Workers should be aware that there are two
groups inside the UNT that are trying to deepen the division between
Orlando Chirino, Marcela Máspero and the FBT, confusing the struggle
and throwing more wood on the fire...these sectors are the reformists and
the ultra-leftists. The reformists are pressuring so that the UNT link
itself to the reformist parts of the Government, the state apparatus.
"The
ultra-leftists," the statement continued, "are trying to cut out the
UNT from the Bolivarian movement, as they consider President Chavez an
obstacle to the advancement of socialism y superimpose the particular
interests of their sectarians groups on the interests of the working
class as a whole."
(*Clasista, in Spanish, refers to an overt support for the working class.)
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