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April 29, 2010 - No. 80 All Out for May Day 2010!May Day 2010 May Day 2010 Rally and March in Edmonton Boom or Bust: In Workers' Struggle We Trust!
Workers did not create this economic crisis but it is we who suffer the most from it. Governments continue to buffer corporations and pass on the burden to us through cuts to social programs, tuition increases, increased deregulation, and attacks on workers' rights. We are told to be patient, tighten our belts, and wait for the next upswing. But we will not sit passively by and wait for bosses and politicians to improve our lives. Now more than ever, it is essential that we reclaim the proud working class history of May 1, International Workers' Day. This history is rooted in the struggle for the 8-hour day, and May Day has come to represent the spirit of International Solidarity. It is an occasion to foster genuine solidarity amongst all workers, regardless of status, whether unemployed or underemployed, indigenous, students, and all exploited and oppressed sectors in Canadian society. In Edmonton, we will join the millions of workers across the world that have been mobilizing on May 1st for over 100 years, marching in celebration, struggle, and unity. We celebrate our achievements and the dignity we gain through the struggle to create a more just and equal society. Boom or Bust: In Workers' Struggle We Trust!1. Workers and students won't pay for a crisis we didn't
create; Organizations are invited to endorse this event. Get involved! Help with placard making and postering, or contact us to find other ways to contribute. For more information, contact maydayedmonton@gmail.com or visit maydayedmonton.ca Issued by the May Day 2010 March Committee, an ad hoc group formed to organize this event following the cancellation of the 2010 May Week Labour Arts Festival.
Toronto May Day EventsThe celebration of May Day in Toronto has been growing in recent years and May Day 2010 will continue that trend with an increasing number of organizations and people participating in actions to give expression to the struggles of the workers and oppressed people and express international solidarity on International Working Class Day. Unfortunately the organizers of May Day marches in Toronto were unable to unite to hold one march in which all the struggles of the workers and oppressed could be given a place of honour. As a result, two marches are scheduled in Toronto for the same time.
No One Is Illegal and a number of other participating and sponsoring organizations have organized their fifth Annual May Day of Action under the slogan May Day 2010: March for Status for All! Start time is 1:00 pm in St. Jamestown at Wellesley St. and Ontario St. The May 1st Movement, also comprised of a number of participating and sponsoring organizations, has organized a march in the Bathurst-St. Clair neighborhood, under the slogan May 1, 2010 -- Working Class People Unite on International Workers Day! Participants will assemble at 1:00 pm at the CUPE Local 4400 union office, 1482 Bathurst St. then march up Vaughan Rd, culminating in a 3:00 pm cultural event at Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St. (Christie south of St. Clair). May Day festivities will conclude in Toronto with the
Mayworks
Festival Closing Party, starting at 7:30 pm at The Garrison, 1197
Dundas Street West. It is part of the Mayworks Festival activities
being held from April 24-May 2 (see www.mayworks.ca
for details).
Come Out to the Celebration and Banquet
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Organizing for the May Day celebration and banquet in Prince George, BC, on May 1st is proceeding well, and organizers have issued an invitation to all workers from Prince George, Mackenzie and region, to attend. Transportation from Mackenzie will be available.
The event, which is organized by the May Day Organizing Committee and which will feature a full-course meal, songs, and short speeches, now has eight local labour organizations sponsoring the event and purchasing tables.
Sponsors include the United Steelworkers, Local 1-424; Prince George & District Labour Council; Faculty Association of CNC; Canadian Union of Postal Workers; Pulp, Paper & Woodworkers, Local 9; BC Government Employees Union; and Health Sciences Association; (other organizations to confirm).
Several other organizations have also endorsed the event, including the Stand Up for the North Committee, BC Forum, and North Labour Law.
During the banquet, local labour representatives and community activists will speak. In addition, a May Day singers group has come together and will be performing a number of traditional labour and progressive songs throughout the proceedings.
Dawn Hemingway, from the Stand Up for the North Committee, will act as master of ceremonies.
Fight Against the Anti-Social Offensive
Seniors Denounce Guaranteed Income
Supplement Red Tape
On the morning of April 20 close to 300 seniors, members of the Quebec Federation of Senior Citizens (FADOQ), protested outside the Quebec City offices of federal Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Josée Verner. They demanded improvements to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) as well as automatic access for those who qualify for the program.
At present, an estimated 40,000 seniors in Quebec, 91 percent of whom are women, do not receive GIS benefits, either because they are unaware they are eligible or have given up as a result of all the paperwork required. As a symbolic gesture FADOQ has launched a missing persons notice aimed at finding those who qualify but are not presently receiving the supplement. The organization is also circulating a petition in support of its demands, signed thus far by 15,000 people, to be sent to the Harper government before year end.
FADOQ Network in Action for
a Better and More Simplified GIS!
- Press Release, Tuesday,
April 20, 2010 -
Today the FADOQ network is sounding the alarm and mobilizing Quebec-wide to exert pressure on the Harper government regarding the unacceptable situation facing thousands of destitute seniors. The income security program, comprised of the Guaranteed Income Supplement, the Allowance Pension (AP) and Allowance for the Survivor Pension (ASP), fails to cover the needs of low-income seniors. Since the Minister responsible, Diane Finley, has not followed up on a request from the FADOQ network for a meeting, it is going into action! Demonstrations and rallies are to take place province-wide.
Missing Person Notice
The FADOQ network is setting up its GIS-info line, at 1-866-668-0519, to address deficiencies in the government's current system and adequately respond to the GIS target market. Beginning [April 21] it will answer questions from the population. The service is aimed at helping guide people in their efforts and facilitate the identification of citizens who potentially qualify for the program, so that they are referred to the proper resources.
Signature Petition
To express the need for immediate action, the FADOQ network is officially launching a petition across Quebec for an improved and simplified GIS. It is calling upon the public to sign it, either through its website at www.fadoq.ca or on hard copy at one of FADOQ's regional offices (1-800-828-3344).
Legitimate Demands
Automatic GIS Registration. In Quebec at the present time, over 40,000 seniors are not receiving one or another of these benefits as they are not automatically registered, even though the government has all the information it needs to evaluate whether or not a person 60 or 65-years old qualifies for the program! This may represent up to $600 per month. What is the government waiting for to give seniors what is theirs by law?
A $110 GIS Increase for Single Persons and $199 ASP Increase Per Month. In 2010, thousands of seniors Quebec-wide live below the low-income threshold, as the amount of the GIS for single persons and the ASP are simply insufficient. It is unacceptable that these seniors, who have contributed all their lives to the society, are now being kept in poverty. The increase demanded by the FADOQ network is not for luxury items or treats, but to help destitute seniors make ends meet.
Full and Unconditional Retroactivity for Persons with Errors on Application for Benefits Forms or Who Failed to Complete Their Forms on Time. While in the opposition the Conservative Party claimed it supported the full reimbursement of lost benefits. However once in power the Harper government argued that such a process would be "too complicated"! That kind of response clearly shows how seniors are the last of the government's concerns. This also proves that our leaders are ignoring the profound distress that distraught seniors are experiencing and the urgency to change the situation.
Six Month Extension of Benefits for the Survivor of a Recipient at the Time of Their Death. At present, when a beneficiary in a couple dies, their GIS or AP benefit ends that same month, leaving their partner in the utmost insecurity and instability. The aim of this demand is to enable the survivor to deal with their financial obligations and pay funeral and moving expenses as required. In Quebec and in Canada over one million people uphold the FADOQ network's demands. It is supported in its undertakings by numerous organizations such as the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ), the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), various Quebec advisory groups on seniors, the Fédération des aînés du Québec, the Fédération des associations de retraités du Québec (FARQ), the Fédération des aînés et aînées francophones du Canada (FAAFC), the Quebec Federation of University Students (FEUQ) and the Chantier de l'économie sociale. The network is also supported by various federal and provincial parties such as the Bloc Québécois (BQ), the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC), the Parti Québécois (PQ) and Québec solidaire.
The FADOQ network is composed of affiliated groups. Its mission is to group together people over 50 and represent them in various bodies so that their rights and needs are recognized. Its mission is also to organize activities and offer programs and services that respond to their needs. At present, the FADOQ network has over 250,000 members.
(Translated from original French by TML Daily)
Quebec
Actions Against the Budget:
"Jean Charest Ain't Seen
Nothing Yet"
Montreal, April 22, 2010: "All together for quality, universal and free public services!";
"Stop Paying the Rich! Invest in Health Care Now!
Demonstrations against the Quebec budget continued on April 22 with more than 500 people protesting in front of the Centre Mont-Royal in Montreal where Premier Jean Charest and his Finance Minister Raymond Bachand took refuge amongst representatives of the rich minority. Three hundred members of the business community were present for an event called Quebec 2010 Strategic Focus, organized by the group SECOR and the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
Surrounded by the most fervent supporters of the anti-social agenda, the finance minister stated clearly that the measures contained in the budget were in the interests of the rich minority and he appealed to them to come to the government's rescue from the growing opposition of the population. Bachand stated:
"The solitude of politics
is quite vast. [...] Before a
decision is taken, everyone has an opinion. [...] After the decision is
taken, those who are against it strongly protest [...] meanwhile you
say nothing!" In other words, it is in your interest to defend us so
help us!
This admission contradicts Jean Charest's repentance following the General Council of the Quebec Liberal Party, that he had heard the people and he would address their concerns by introducing an element of "gradualism" into the upcoming health care fees.
"Jean Charest is mistaken if he thinks that the people's anger against the Bachand budget will lessen in time. He hasn't seen anything yet!" said Marie-Êve Rancourt, spokesperson for the Coalition Against Fees and Privatization of Public Services. The symbol chosen by the coalition is a red hand emblazoned with the word "Stop!" directed at the measures announced in the budget, which will be used throughout the struggle.
Students, workers from the public and para-public sectors and representatives from various community groups gathered outside the centre carrying a huge banner that said: "It's not fees that need to be raised. It's the CEO that needs to be fired."
Another spokesperson for the Coalition, François Saillant added that the Coalition would oppose both the tax increases as well as the fees for health services, education and residential electricity. "Mr. Charest isn't fooling anyone when he says that the government will make 62 percent of the effort required to balance the budget by 2013/2014. It is not the government but the people who will suffer the brutal budget cuts of nearly $6 billion that further compromise the quality of public services, further open the doors to privatization and reduce the fight against poverty to next to nothing."
The Coalition called on
people not to be fooled by
Charest's strategy of saying that he would take into account the
people's concerns and introduce a "progressive" element in the planned
fees for health care. According to the Coalition, this nominal change
is clearly inadequate as the entire budget is
regressive and unjust. Raising rates and fees, as well as budget cuts
will weigh much more on the middle class and people living in poverty
than big business and the wealthy. The Coalition strongly opposes this
choice, and opposes budget cuts and fees and all measures that favour
the wealthy while destroying social programs.
The Coalition called on everyone to participate in the May Day demonstration and stressed that they will continue to address the Prime Minister and Minster Bachand and prepare to continue the fight this fall.
A similar demonstration was held at 3:00 pm later that same day in Montreal North. It brought together people from CEGEP Marie-Victorin as well as students, teachers and workers of the CEGEP Marie-Victorin, and activists with Halte-Femmes Montréal-Nord, Montréal-Nord Republik and Mouvement fraternité multi-ethnique. It departed from CEGEP Marie-Victorin then took to the streets of Montreal-Nord
The communique issued for the event pointed out:
"Montreal North is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the region and
the decisions taken in the budget will particularly affect this
population." It continued:
"We are facing an ideological budget which will go down in history if we do not firmly oppose it. This is the culmination of the Liberal agenda in its purest form: a return to 'Thatcherism' of the '80s! With these measures, is it the companies and the wealthiest that will pay their fair share of taxes? Surely not," said François Parent, president of the teachers' union for the college.
"We will not stop protesting this situation so long as the government will not retreat," said Sébastien Poisson-L'Espérance, coordinator for the student union of the college.
Steel
Civil Fraud Charges Against Goldman Sachs
The U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission has filed
civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs. According to various news
reports on April 16, 2010, it is alleged that Goldman Sachs committed
fraud by not disclosing the participation of the hedge fund Paulson
& Co. in the structuring of a mortgage-backed investment that was
sold to investors. In layman's terms, Paulson & Co. packaged a
billion dollars worth of sub-prime mortgages and Goldman Sachs sold
these sub-prime mortgages as triple-A investments. The trick for
Paulson & Co. was that they took out insurance (called credit
default swaps -- CDS) that would pay if the mortgages went into
default,
which they did. Paulson & Co. made a billion dollars on this
particular deal while several Goldman Sachs customers (including the
Royal Bank of Scotland, and other banks) lost a billion dollars.
Goldman Sachs received a commission of $15 million for this deal.
I would like to point out that Paulson & Co. is the same company
that
tried to swindle Algoma Steel out of $476 million in February 2006,
shortly after Algoma came out of bankruptcy. (See "Stop the Paulson
Theft and Wrecking of Algoma Steel!" TML Daily, February 27, 2006,
and "Algoma-Paulson 'Strategic Direction Agreement': Anti-National,
Anti-Worker and Against the Interests of Sault Ste. Marie" and "Algoma
Steel and Paulson & Co. Reach Deal" TML
Daily, March 23, 2006) A deal was worked out on March 8,
2006 which allowed Paulson to distribute $200 million of 'excess
capital' to
shareholders, bringing the total shareholder distribution to $476
million in less than 12 months. This was done while the pension plan
was over $287 million in deficit and while the steel plant was sorely
in need of capital expenditure. Truer words were never spoken when TML
pointed out that "Algoma and Paulson's pact is based on their common
intent to pick the bones of Algoma Steel, siphoning off every penny
they can in the shortest time."
These vultures -- Algoma had Paulson & Co. while Stelco had
Brookfield Asset Management -- go from one big score to another, and
along the way demand that the workers give up their just claims for
wages, benefits and pensions. Their appetite for the big score is
insatiable, and it results in nation-wrecking.
Wrecking of Lakeport Brewing in Hamilton
The Challenge to Restrict Monopoly Right
The U.S./Belgium beer monopoly InBev (Labatt) bought a small competing Hamilton brewery in 2007 for the sole purpose of closing it as soon as politically expedient (at least that is what most people contend). This past March, the monopoly announced the closure for the end of April after which all brewing equipment would be stripped from the site. To make the point perfectly clear that InBev (Labatt) did not want any competition in Hamilton, it said that the remaining two years on the building's lease with the Hamilton Port Authority could be assumed by any company that does not brew beer or produce soft drink.
In response to an outcry in Hamilton, rather than show some flexibility towards public right, InBev (Labatt) told the 143 Lakeport Brewing employees that the plant would be closed even earlier and the means of production immediately removed. The monopoly has done this before in Ontario, closing breweries in Waterloo and Etobicoke and stripping the plants bare despite public opposition.
InBev (Labatt)'s deliberate wrecking of manufacturing to serve a narrow purpose has already become a classic saga of monopoly right. The issue in Hamilton is not so much the flagrant injustice of this trampling of public right and harming of the socialized economy, but how to mobilize the people to stop it. Subsequent to InBev's announcement to close the Lakeport Brewery, events have clarified the reality that the only social force that could possibly lead the people to challenge monopoly right is the working class organized as an effective Workers' Opposition.
Three smaller brewing companies expressed interest in buying the plant as long as the brewing equipment was intact, but they were immediately rebuffed by InBev (Labatt). Various members of the middle strata including elected politicians raised the issue in City Council, the Ontario Legislature and Parliament but soon became discouraged with the enormous financial might and legal will of the monopoly. Hamilton Centre NDP Member of Parliament David Christopherson was reported to have asked Industry Minister Tony Clement to intervene yet in the same breath Christopherson said he doesn't think Ottawa could order Labatt to sell its equipment. A Hamilton area member of the Ontario Legislature asked the Liberal Party in power to intervene but was quickly scolded by Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello who is quoted as saying, "The government's role in a case like this is to create the kind of business environment that will draw companies into Hamilton, not to run rampant over private firms." A Hamilton pub owner agreed with the Teamsters union that Hamilton beer drinkers should boycott InBev (Labatt)'s products but quickly added that all pubs would have to agree first as he did not want to lose any customers. Others in the legal community said that nothing could be done under the existing commercial law dealing with monopoly restriction of competition because the federal Competition Act is too weak to be effective. A Hamilton Councillor filed a complaint with the federal Competition Bureau about InBev (Labatt)'s decision to close Lakeport, but the tribunal rejected it.
The point is not to bemoan the weakness of the resistance to monopoly right but to highlight the reality that it is up to the working class to organize itself as an effective political opposition to change the situation. The working class is a modern creation of mass industrial production that has the social responsibility to lead the people in an effective resistance movement to monopoly right and for an alternative. By providing leadership, numbers and determination, the working class could energize those in the middle strata and small business to desert the owners of monopoly capital and become allies with workers in a united front for public right against monopoly right and for a People's Canada.
No other social force but the working class has the strength of numbers and determination to uphold public right and challenge monopoly right. The middle strata and small and medium-sized businesspeople are no longer capable of leading nation building because they are constantly absorbed or blocked by the monopolies and their political stranglehold over the state. The working class can and must lead modern nation building. The working class when organized of, for and by itself with a political program for nation building can challenge monopoly right and turn the situation around in practice, boldly declaring its intention to stop paying the rich, to increase funding for social programs, to say no to nation wrecking and yes to manufacturing and a self-reliant diverse economy and that people have rights by virtue of being human and those who are the actual producers should have control over the socialized economy and decide its direction.
The middle strata and small and medium-sized businesspeople could become allies of the working class on many issues if they saw that workers were indeed united and determined to resist the wrecking by owners of monopoly capital and trampling of public right and that workers had a program of their own and the confidence and social consciousness not to succumb to the ideological and political pressure of the rich, their monopolies and mass media.
In the present situation such as with Lakeport Brewing, monopoly right trumps the public right of the workers, middle strata and small and medium sized business. For all to join a united resistance, the broad masses of the people must be convinced that the working class is serious, well organized and conscious of the new direction towards nation building it wants to take the country and economy in opposition to monopoly right.
The ball is in the court of the working class and the challenge is to take up the organizational work for nation building towards a People's Canada. No other social force but the working class at this time in history is capable of leading the country forward and building the new.
Join with workers and their allies at the May 1 rallies across the country. In Hamilton, participate in the MAYDAY Rally and March organized by USW Local 1005. Meet at the Hamilton Convention Centre May 1 at 1:00 pm; also, participate in the May 2 daylong Conference on Nation Building at Local 1005's union hall, 350 Kenilworth Avenue N.
Manufacturing Yes! Nation-Wrecking No!
(For further information on the Lakeport Brewery closure read the article "Unite Around an Alternative to the Closure of Lakeport Brewing in Hamilton," in TML Daily April 8, 2010 )
Role of Monopoly Media in Discouraging
Resistance to
Monopoly Right
The following excerpts from a Hamilton Spectator article illustrate one way the mass media defend monopoly right and the anti-social offensive. The mass media do not necessarily support the blatant wrecking of this or that plant, privatization, cuts in social programs or hike in individual taxation but rather discourage the building of any resistance, and spread doubt and ideological confusion over the viability of any alternative.
Often the deliberate wrecking of manufacturing, such as the closure and stripping of Lakeport Brewery, is reduced to one of existing commercial law, which of course is heavily slanted in favour of monopoly right and against public right. The people's thinking is led away from taking action in favour of the public good and a fight for an alternative to wrecking such as the building of a self-reliant diverse socialized economy under the control of the actual producers. The people are directed towards what exists in practice, the status quo and a commercial law that upholds monopoly right. This commercial law decides what is right based on the ownership of the socialized economy by the most powerful owners of capital and denies the legitimacy of any alternative program that does not yet have standing in law.
Existing commercial law institutionalizes the trumping of public right by monopoly right and that must be changed. An alternative in Ontario for example, could be public control over the wholesale market for beer and the use of that authority to break up the 90 percent monopoly control of the beer market and brewing by InBev, Molson Coors and Sapporo/Sleeman through the enforcement of a rule that beer consumed in a certain municipality must be brewed and owned in that municipality either by individuals from the community or a public enterprise.
In the present case, InBev (Labatt) is said to have the right to close and strip a perfectly good Lakeport Brewery and the people have no say in the matter. This is a direct challenge to the Workers' Opposition, to organize and lead the resistance and the building of an alternative. A Workers' Opposition has to become effective in challenging monopoly right not just by using existing legal arguments and political institutions but also by firmly establishing the people's right to control their economy and have a say over its direction and to transform their popular will into a legal will. This means challenging monopoly right with mass political mobilization for public right and nation building, towards having worker politicians elected to Canada's political institutions who have the courage and determination to withstand the ideological pressure of the corporate mass media and not bow down before the status quo, worker politicians who have the resolve and backing of their constituencies to restrict monopoly right and lead the people towards an alternative.
For Your Information
Labatt Lakeport Move Not Competition Violation:
Experts
- Hamilton Spectator,
April 14, 2010
(excerpts) -
It would be an uphill climb to find a way to thwart Labatt's mothballing of the Lakeport brewery under Canadian competition laws, say experts in the field.
"To my mind, this is new territory," said Tony Baldanza, a lawyer with Fasken Martineau in Toronto.
"It doesn't look like there is a remedy, at least not a clear one."
He said he's not aware of another situation where a company has dismantled a facility and has been found to be in violation of competition laws.
The most applicable statute, he says, is called abuse of dominance. A company must hold at least 35 per cent market share and be found to be acting in a predatory, exclusionary or disciplinary way against competitors or to deter future entry by new competitors, with the result of preventing or lessening competition substantially. [InBev Labatt reportedly holds 45 percent market share in Ontario. -- TML Ed.]
Ariel Katz, a law professor at the University of Toronto, says that would be tough to argue, given that it would be entirely possible for a competitor to buy brewing equipment elsewhere.
Lawson Hunter, a competition lawyer with Stikeman Elliott and a former civil servant primarily responsible for the drafting of the federal Competition Act, agrees that abuse of dominance is not easy to prove.
The bureau likely wouldn't launch a review on its own without a complaint, says Hunter: "They would look at what is the legitimate business justification to withhold something of value from the marketplace. Is it anti- competitive?"
While some, including local politicians, have called for the provincial or federal government to expropriate the equipment inside the Lakeport plant, Baldanza said that would be highly unusual.
"I'm not aware of a case of expropriation to preserve jobs and I don't think the act provides for that ... It would be a real intrusion by government into private enterprise."
Canada's Competition Bureau reviewed Labatt's $201.4-million purchase of Lakeport in February 2007 for close to two years.
It was a contentious investigation, culminating in an order by the Competition Tribunal to close the investigation after a complaint by Labatt.
The bureau officially closed the file in January 2009.
A spokesperson with the Competition Bureau said yesterday that "as long as companies respect the terms of the Competition Act, they are free to make their own business decisions."
Alexa Keating stopped short of saying the bureau would not take action in the case and said the outcome of a complaint by Councillor Bob Bratina is confidential.
He has asked the bureau to prevent Labatt from dismantling the plant until a review is complete.
Venezuela
Workers' Control to Solve Power Problems
Following nation-wide assemblies involving more than 10,000 electricity workers to collectively discuss solutions to the sector's problems, 600 delegates gathered in Caracas on April 8-9.
The delegates presented Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
with their proposals to restructure the industry.
The electricity sector has been in crisis, with demand
for power outstripping supply and blackouts resulting.
For more than two hours, Chavez and various government ministers listened intently as workers read out their proposals, developed over the two-day meeting.
Angel Navas, president of the (Fetraelec), said: "We hope that together with the revolutionary government, supporting the struggle of the workers, we can attack the capitalist model that is in crisis."
Navas pointed out the real protagonists in Venezuela's revolutionary struggle have been the workers themselves.
Workers' Proposals
Representatives from the 12 workers' roundtables read out proposals, including: the introduction of workers' control and participation in management; measures to eradicate corruption and bureaucratism; the elimination of casualisation by shifting workers onto permanent jobs; provision of ideological and technical education; and the fusion of the various existing electricity companies into one state company to facilitate the creation of a truly socialist electricity company.
Addressing the workers, Chavez declared: "The electricity revolution has begun!"
 Caracas, Venezuela, September 25, 2009: Threee thousand electrical workers march to demand worker participation in the state-owned National Electricity Corporation (CORPOELEC) to resolve the problems in the sector. Placard reads: "The current managment of CORPOELEC is bureacratic, it is neoliberal, it is not socialist!" (Photo: Venezuelanalysis.com) |
Chavez urged workers to push forward with their proposals as part of the transformation of the electricity sector.
"We can not affect change in the electricity sector without the workers playing a leading role, without their passion, their love for what they do, their pain, fury and knowledge.
"We are building a socialist homeland, with workers' democracy."
Chavez said that only through socialism, "with the participation of the communities and the workers, will we be able to definitively and profoundly solve all the problems."
In order to "speed up the transition to socialism" and the fusion of the existing electricity companies, Chavez said workers in each company should elect a workers' management committee and incorporate themselves into the existing board of directors, with voice and vote.
In 2007, as part of a process of "renationalising" privatised companies, six private electricity companies were brought under state control. A 2007 decree was passed to fuse the renationalised companies with the existing state company to found the Electricity Corporation of Venezuela (Corpoelec).
This decree set July this year as the date for the process's completion. However, little progress has been made, as managers in each company have continued to operate separately, in many cases to defend their privileges.
One example was management's refusal to sign a unified collective contract with workers across the electricity sector to equalise pay and conditions. Clearly viewing this as a step towards the fusing of the existing companies, management held out for 18 months, until forced to sign by the workers' struggle.
Chavez said workers should elect direct representatives to the Electricity Chief of Staff, which includes representatives from the cabinet, management and the Armed Forces, so that within a month the first decisions could be taken towards creating a socialist electricity company.
Chavez asked workers to immediately resolve the issue of casualised labour by clarifying how many workers were casual in order to start eradicating the scourge.
The atmosphere was electric as workers chanted: "This, this, this is how to govern!"
Sabotage
Echoing workers' statements, Chavez warned counterrevolutionary elements remained in the sector, including in key posts.
Recalling how socialism failed in the Soviet Union because power was not in workers' hands, he called on the workers to prepare for big battles as the process of transforming the sector moved forward.
"Some people told me now was not the time to make these changes, but I believe this is the right time. Of course, internal sectors against the transformation will step up their sabotage, but if they do, I will make the necessary decisions.
"There are saboteurs occupying high posts and we know who they are. This does not mean we will carry out a witch hunt, but we will carry out changes on the side of the working class."
Chavez spoke of "strange" occurrences in the sector, such as three recent fires in the important Central Plant in Carabobo state.
The government also announced on April 6 that eight Colombian spies had been arrested for secretly photographing and collecting information on Venezuela's electricity system.
Comparing the situation to the sabotage by privileged managers of the state oil company, PDVSA, in late 2002, Chavez said: "It is the same bourgeoisie from the oil strike in PDVSA that is promoting sabotage in the electricity sector."
At the time, the corrupt management of PDVSA and the electricity sector, both aligned to the right-wing opposition, carried out a two-month long lockout aimed at strangling Venezuela's economy and bringing down Chavez's government.
Resistance by workers, the armed forces and the poor majority defeated the lockout and PDVSA was brought under government control.
Following the defeat of the lockout in the electricity sector, workers initiated a process of workers' control. However, this push was rolled back by the bureaucracy in the electricity companies, who fought to defend their privileges and corrupt dealings.
"Just as PDVSA was overflowing with capitalist values, that is how the electricity companies are today," Chavez said.
"I have spoken with the National Guard so that the army can support the workers, because we cannot allow this sabotage to continue."
Chavez emphasised the need to organise workers' militias in the electricity sector.
An important feature of this new push for workers' control is that, unlike previous experiments, the process can count on a united and organised workers movement led by some of Venezuela's most politically conscious unionists to combat counterrevolutionary forces.
Fetraelec has long campaigned for worker participation as a solution to problems in the electricity sector. The leadership was first elected in 1998 after its leading role in the fight against privatisation.
During the anti-privatisation struggle, these unionists raised the need for workers' control.
In 2001, Fetraelec signed a collective contract with Cadafe, one of the main components of Corpoelec, which included a clause on the right of workers to participate in managing the industry.
After defeating the bosses' lockout at the end of 2002, workers began to organise committees across the industry to implement their collective contract. However, they encountered fierce resistance from company managers and sections of the government.
By 2005, the experiments in worker participation, called "co-management," had been rolled back, with the exception of the Merida branch of Cadafe. There, workers had elected their own representative, Raul Arocha, as the local manager.
Chavez has recently appointed Arocha as Cadafe president.
Fetraelec continued to push its demands and achieved an important victory against the bureaucracy at the start of this year with the signing of the new collective contract.
The contract again included a clause on worker (and community) participation in running the industry.
By the end of last year, workers in different areas, such as Central Plant, had already begun removing corrupt bureaucrats and implementing workers' control.
Plan Socialista Guayana
The same day Chavez addressed electricity workers, the new minister for basic industry and mining, José Khan, met with union representatives from steel, aluminum, iron ore and mining companies in the industrial state of Bolivar.
Khan listened to workers talk about the impact on production of energy rationing, caused by problems in the electricity sector, as well as other problems caused by the global economic crisis.
The Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana, which involves about 80,000 workers in different state-owned steel, aluminum, iron ore and mining companies, has also been undergoing a process of transformation.
In March 2009, an event similar to the electricity workers gathering was organised with 400 representatives from all factories in Guayana.
In response to workers' demands, Chavez announced the nationalisation of a number of companies and called on workers to design a plan to restructure the industrial complex under workers' control.
As a result, thousands of workers organised themselves into roundtables in most plants to discuss and develop Plan Socialista Guayana 2009-19, which was approved by Chavez in July.
The plan raises the need for workers' control -- to not just direct production, but decide what is produced and for whom.
Acknowledging the process had not moved forward as quickly as wanted, Khan said: "The workers' roundtables in Guayana are already detecting what the problems are, and the necessary solutions and resources."
He said there is now workers' control over investment and commercialisation in some companies, but that workers are demanding the process of worker control over production move forward.
"The only thing missing now is to know who will be in charge of these companies."
Khan pointed to the example of Fetraelec and called on workers to put aside personal and petty differences. He said the "Guayana union movement needs political maturity; it has to understand the priority is unity in order to rescue the companies."
"The only way to rescue these basic industries is with the participation of the workers," said Khan. He said it was vital "these basic industries are directed by the workers themselves," with workers electing managers.
He also said his ministry was investigating creating two new vice ministries for commercialisation and production. The vice ministry of commercialisation, "which has to be run by a competent worker who knows the area," would ensure greater transparency and that prices were equally set across the different companies.
Jose Melendez, finance secretary of the Sidor steel plant workers' union, said Khan's appointment as minister was "a great opportunity" to relaunch Plan Socialista Guayana.
Melendez said: "We workers are going to put on our boots once again in order to re-launch the roundtables, which are vital and important for the development of the country."
* Federico Fuentes is part of the Green Left Weekly Caracas bureau.
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