In a December 3 referendum, the government won approval of its proposal to suspend the national union leadership for six months, during which new union elections are to be held.

The referendum was approved by a 65 percent majority. The turnout, however, was only 22 percent of the 11 million eligible voters. The vote was accompanied by municipal elections.

The referendum has been strongly opposed by the officials of the four established trade union federations. Officials of a fifth, recently founded federation, the Bolivarian Workers Force (FBT), align themseles with the Chávez regime.

Carlos Navarro, secretary general of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV), the largest of the labor federations, with 1.7 million members, declared that he would not accept the results of the referendum, calling it "unconstitutional." CTV officials have threatened to stage civil disobedience actions if the government moves to implement the measure.  
 
Playing on hatred for labor bureaucracy
The Chávez regime has won support for its move to shackle the unions more tightly to the state by taking advantage of widespread hatred for the labor bureaucracy, which he terms "corrupt and rotten."

The 2 million union members in Venezuela belong to one of four trade union federations. The CTV, an affiliate of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), organizes a substantial percentage of Venezuela's unionized workforce, especially among public employees. The other, smaller labor federations are the United Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CUTV), General Confederation of Workers (CGT), and the Confederation of Autonomous Unions (CODESA).

The majority of the CTV officialdom supports the social-democratic party Democratic Action (AD). A minority backs the Social Christian COPEI party or the Venezuelan Communist Party, a Stalinist group (PCV), or other parties in the workers movement.

Chávez has appealed to working people by accusing top union officials of cutting backroom deals with the traditional parties on issues that benefited employers. One example was the 1997 change in the labor law covering severance pay for workers who were laid off or quit a job. The law was replaced by an employer-backed plan with fewer benefits. Chávez called this measure a "betrayal."

The Venezuelan president campaigned for the referendum by criticizing the unions for not having direct elections of the leadership. Placed on the defensive, the CTV adopted new rules in April 1999 requiring direct election of the union leaders, with a term of four years. The promised elections have not taken place, however.

Chávez has so far gained popular support among many working people and middle-class layers because of his promises to address the critical situation facing the majority of the population in Venezuela. A section of the Venezuelan capitalist class supports him as their main hope for stabilizing a situation of incessant social turmoil.  
 
Acute economic crisis
Venezuela, although the third-largest oil exporter in the world, has been going through a recession for more than two years, in which thousands of companies have gone bankrupt, leaving 600,000 workers unemployed in 1999. More than half the workforce is jobless or underemployed. Some 80 percent of the 24 million Venezuelans live below the official poverty line. Inflation runs at 20 percent.

Raising hopes among many working people, Chávez announced on national television and radio in early September a program that he said would create 100,000 jobs and social programs, including the construction of housing, schools, industrial, agricultural, and tourist projects.

The president said these projects are part of a plan to "accelerate" the recovery of the Venezuelan economy, which shrank 7 percent last year. Capitalists have taken $8 billion out of the country due to fears of instability.

The government hopes to rely on oil revenues, with projected profits of $5 billion this year because of the high price of oil, according to Finance Ministry estimates. The United States, its main customer, buys 1.4 million barrels a day an equivalent of about half Venezuela's total production.

In October, oil workers went on strike demanding hourly wage increases of 6,500 bolivars, or about $9 an hour, against the state-owned oil company, PDVSA. The current minimum wage for oil workers is 10,000 bolivars, or $14; the company had offered $5. The labor action took place in the western state of Zulia, where workers occupied areas of some refineries and oil distribution ports. The National Guard and the police were mobilized to intimidate the strikers. Oil workers also went on strike in March against a government order to suspend collective negotiations of a contract that had expired in November.

Since the end of the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1959, a two-party system of AD and COPEI had dominated politics in Venezuela, including control of the Supreme Court, Congress, and state governorships. Both parties have imposed austerity programs and are hated and discredited in the eyes of working people.

In the midst of these acute crisis conditions, Chávez emerged, relying on his image of an honest military man above the corruption of traditional parties and willing to take radical action against the "establishment."  
 
Centralization of power
Since he took office in 1999, Chávez has taken steps to centralize executive power. He has relied on referendums and decrees to get backing from the population in carrying out his moves against the traditional institutions--what he calls a "peaceful revolution."

A new constitution approved in December of last year gave Chávez the power to dissolve the Senate and take over the judicial system. The National Assembly, where the president enjoys a majority, passed an "enabling law" giving Chávez the authority to enact a range of measures now pending and decree others over the year, on economic matters ranging from banking regulations to land reform.

To defend these measures, Chávez argues that he is calling for "direct democracy." In a speech earlier this year, he stated, "We are setting up a democracy according to our own needs.... We will never let anyone impose their models of democracy on us," adding, "Merely representative democracy doesn't work here."

The current moves against the trade unions are the most recent steps by the government to consolidate its central authority.

Officials in Washington and other imperialist capitals are hoping the Chávez government can keep a lid on social protests. But they also object to a government in a semicolonial country not toeing its line in foreign policy, such as the Venezuelan government's increased trade relations with Cuba and its more aggressive role in promoting the interests of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. As a result, some voices in U.S. and other imperialist ruling circles have sought to pressure the Chávez government by accusing it of not being "democratic."

This stance has been echoed by the trade union officialdoms in the imperialist countries. The AFL-CIO officialdom, along with the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), condemned the Venezuelan referendum, calling it a violation of international labor protocols.

The AFL-CIO, ICFTU, and International Labor Organization have floated the threat of trade sanctions against Venezuela. Calls for sanctions or boycotts against governments in semicolonial countries are typical of the AFL-CIO officialdom, which echoes U.S. government foreign policy.
 
 
Related articles:
What is nature of regime in Venezuela?
Letters
Leon Trotsky on trade unions and the state
 
 
 
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