For the reduction of the working day!!!
For health and safety at work and medical attention and medicines!!!!
For freedom for the workers imprisoned for demonstrating for their demands!!!

Although workers in Venezuela have not yet finished multiplying and broadening their struggles, some advances have been made that should be highlighted.

A greater quantitative participation of active workers in the street protests has been observed, considering that previously they tended to dominate the protest actions of retired and pensioned workers. This is an expression, not only of the loss of fear in the face of labor and State terrorism, but also of manifestations of discontent and disillusionment with the promises of the government, politicians and businessmen about a welfare that, as a consequence of the "economic recovery" would be reflected in an increase of jobs and improvement of salaries, but benefits that have only reached a minority who are getting richer, while said "economic recovery" has only been reflected in a deterioration of the standard of living of salaried workers. This has been expressed in small signs of a break with apathy and conformism.

 - Grassroots mobilization of workers to demand their demands. The main verification of this was observed in the massive protest rallies of public education and health workers, through which the government was able to get the government to pay the Vacation Bonus to educators. What was relevant in these actions was that the rank and file of the teachers’ union workers mobilized outside the control of the union federations. Only a small group of leaders and grassroots unions had been carrying out agitations and calls for workers’ struggle and this facilitated the channeling of the discontent of this sector of public workers. But none of the leaderships of the trade union centrals and federations can take credit for these demonstrations which led to the partial defeat of the government. It is also worth mentioning the strikes carried out by metallurgical workers and workers of the basic enterprises of Guayana, which were decided and directed by the workers’ base assemblies and not by the union leaderships; actions which later ended up being stopped by the politicians, the dubious "negotiation tables" and repression.

The workers’ movement in Venezuela continues, however, to present a set of limitations that weaken it in its vindictive confrontation against the bosses and the Venezuelan bourgeois government.

There are a number of factors that limit the growth of workers’ struggles.

 - There is a great division in the movement of the salaried workers, mainly among the workers of the public sector, imposed by decades of bosses’ actions of the trade union centrals and federations that group together the different unions. Both the new and old trade union centrals and federations of workers in Venezuela operate as allies of the bosses and only lead some struggles when dissatisfied workers break with their passivity and get out of control. The CTV, CUTV, CODESA, CGT, ASI, UNETE and CSBT and the federations that each one groups together, divide the workers, demobilize them and keep them subjected to the labor peace that allows the bosses to maintain and deepen the exploitation of wage labor. Likewise, the majority of the rank and file unions affiliated to these trade union centers operate in a bosses’ way and only, as an exception, some rank and file unions break out of their control and promote agitation and the struggle for demands. Hence, if the movement of salaried workers needs to react with struggle, it has to confront a union structure that divides it, demobilizes it and betrays it,

 - The centrals, federations and unions are controlled by different opportunist political currents that constantly incorporate bourgeois and non-proletarian demands in their demands. These political currents call on the workers to defend the operational continuity and the profits of the enterprises, to defend the national economy, to defend the homeland, to defend parliamentary democracy, to offer the workers as cannon fodder in the imperialist wars.

 - The workers’ movement is also subjected to the confusion brought about by the struggle of the pro-government parties and the opposition parties vying for control of the government in elections of mayors, councilors, governors, deputies and president of the republic. These parties have a presence in the workers’ movement to use their discontent and struggles to serve the political interests of any of the opposing sides. Any political movement that calls on the workers to vote in the different electoral processes of Venezuelan bourgeois democracy must be seen by the workers as an agent of the boss and of capitalist exploitation.

 - Currently the workers’ movement has limited itself to demanding compliance with the crumbs that are established in different collective bargaining agreements and does not end up aligning itself with the struggle for a salary and benefits in accordance with the demands of daily life and the impact of inflation. Even part of the movement demands the payment of certain bonuses and falls with this into the cruel game of the bourgeois government.

The government is trying to prevent the further growth of workers’ mobilization and protest by combining demagogic offers (which are still miserable and which it will still not fulfill without workers’ pressure), with the implementation of a national program of musical events, shows and fairs and with the application of terrorism and repression. But it is necessary that workers’ agitation and mobilization be imposed and that the workers organize at the base and locally so that they break with the division and demobilization promoted by the central unions and federations.

The height of the CSBT’s servility could be seen when at the end of September it announced that the government would pay Christmas bonuses and benefits in four (4) parts, arguing that the workers of the public sector payroll had to be protected from the effect of inflation. It was not the top government officials who made this cynical and ruthless announcement, but rather it was the trade unionists who showed their faces with this announcement. This is one of the many signs of the commitment of the trade union confederations to the capitalist bosses. And although some voices of the trade union movement have opposed this measure, it was put into effect; with which the exploitative viciousness reaches levels not reached by previous governments and is a clear sign that in Venezuela there is no socialism but savage capitalism and is another sign that Chavismo and the so-called "patriotic pole" is nothing more than an amalgam of bourgeois and reactionary currents, from which the working class can expect nothing but demagogy, deceit, corruption, repression and anti-worker measures.

Meanwhile a delegation of the ILO visited Venezuela to bring together the tripartite government – employers – unions. Only the CSBT, ASI and CTV were given access to the meetings with the ILO. The other trade union centers were left out; but nothing would change if they gave access to the rest of the trade union centers. In this "tripartite" mechanism, all parties represent one: the capitalist, public and private businessmen. In this way, the Venezuelan government is moving towards the reactivation of the tripartite mechanism in wage setting, which is applied in a good part of the world. In the debate on the wage increase, the blackmail that the wage increase will bring with it a spike in inflation is being used; and in this way this tripartite alliance of government-employers-unions, unites to continue depositing the weight of the economic crisis on the shoulders of the workers. The representative of the Venezuelan businessmen in the ILO and in the Tripartite stated that "neither the businessmen nor the Government can pay a (minimum) wage of US$430". But this cynical alliance Government-Businessmen-Union Unions has not lifted a finger to adjust the current minimum wage of US$15 per month. And this starvation wage is supported by all the opportunist groups and parties, by all the vote seekers who call for the rescue of the homeland and the national economy, so that the few live well, surrounded by leisure and privileges, and the great majorities sink into the abyss of misery, hunger and disease.

The reality, between parties, announcements of "economic recovery" (repeated to exhaustion by all the media and social networks) and arrogance, mistreatment and repression towards workers who mobilize and make claims, is that another year of miserable salaries is coming to an end for the workers, of lack of access to health services, of non-compliance of the government and the bosses with the payment of debts contracted with the active and retired workers and of significant masses subjected to unemployment or to precarious "jobs" or pushed to migration to be subjected to over-exploitation by the capitalists in other countries. The only way out is the struggle of the workers, and this struggle must be taken up in a united way and with the broadest participation of the rank and file of the wage earners in all the workplaces and in the streets.

In this sense it is important to:

1. To maintain and broaden class unity without distinction of party or union affiliation. No matter the trade or level of qualification of the worker, no matter what economic activity or branch of industry is worked, no matter the nationality, no matter if we work in the public or private sector, we are all united by the fact that we are wage earners, that we give our labor force in exchange for a salary. We are the working class or the class of salaried workers. It is very common that in the same institution, facing a single employer, workers are divided by affiliation to several parallel unions. It is also common that there are unions in a company that do not communicate or do not unite their struggles with those of other unions. Class unity means getting rid of any artificial and unnecessary divisions. The unity of class action means acting together inside the company and outside it, together with comrades from other companies and institutions. WE WILL NOT ACHIEVE A CLASS VICTORY IF WE DO NOT MAINTAIN AND BROADEN OUR UNITY OF ACTION!

2. Among the workers of the public sector the demand for the repeal of the ONAPRE Instruction has become generalized. The government remains silent on the matter and the Supreme Court of Justice, as was to be expected, sided with the bosses. This Instruction has been the symbol of the robbery of public sector workers. But even with the repeal of this Instruction, salaries continue to be miserable. So we must not lose the north of the struggle: TO CONQUER A WAGE, PENSIONS AND RETIREMENTS THAT ARE ENOUGH TO LIVE ON, and that are regularly adjusted above the amount of the Basic Basket, together with a Reduction of the Working Day. According to available information, the minimum wage, as well as pensions and retirement pensions should have a minimum amount equivalent to $1,000 per month. Likewise, the fractioned payment of Christmas bonuses and of any contractual "benefit" should be rejected.

3. Let’s rescue the assembly practices. A United Front of Struggle of the Working Class must be a grassroots movement. And a grassroots movement must rise up through the meeting of assemblies, which preferably should be local meetings attended by workers from different companies and not only union leaders. The area of territorial influence of each local assembly should be that which facilitates the broadest attendance and participation of all, moving on foot, by bicycle or urban transport. And regional and national communication and coordination mechanisms should be established between all local assemblies. The assemblies should plan actions and designate working commissions. There are already initiatives of integration of workers’ organizations; these initiatives must be deepened by incorporating the grassroots as much as possible, promoting assemblies and promoting local organization.

4. All the trade union centrals and federations in Venezuela, those that support the government and those that do not, are bosses’ organizations that divide and demobilize the workers. But there are grassroots unions which, even though they are affiliated to these centrals and federations, have promoted the struggle for their demands. There are also union leaders who have promoted struggles individually. That is why we must act without sectarianism, since the important thing is to unite all those who want to fight; at the end of the day the traitors and vacillators will be unmasked in the heat of the struggle.

5. Only class demands should be raised. There are demands that not only distract the workers, but also go against their interests. The struggle of the workers should not be put at the service of any electoral or parliamentary campaign, nor should the defense of the national economy be demanded, because it is a lie that if the economy and the companies are doing well, the workers are doing well too. Likewise, the struggle of the workers cannot be placed at the service of the defense of the homeland or against the sanctions imposed by other capitalist states, because with or without sanctions, the bourgeois homeland is sustained by the exploitation of the wage-earning workers. Nor does it make sense to fight against the privatization of enterprises and institutions since what is relevant is to demand wage increases, reduction of the workday, a hygienic and safe work environment and rejection of layoffs, and in this struggle we should not differentiate between public or private employers or between national or transnational capitalists, against all we have to confront them all united, because they are all united in the bourgeois front of the exploiters.

6. TOWARDS THE GENERAL STRIKE! The maximum expression of the unity of action of the working class is the General Strike. The only way to defeat the bosses and the bourgeois government and to win the workers’ demands is the General Strike. And it must be without notice, indefinite and without minimum services. That is why it is necessary from now on, not only to continue with the rallies and mobilizations, but to advance in the construction of a strong organization of struggle, with broad participation, based on local assemblies. This will not be easy because the majority of the trade union centrals and federations will oppose the rank and file organization of the workers and because it will be necessary to confront the whole legal and repressive apparatus of the bourgeois state. But the strike movement will only be able to impose itself with the broadest participation of the rank and file.

For a class trade union united front!

Converge and unite the struggles of the working class! For a general movement for strong wage increases against the high cost of living!

Towards the General Strike!