DEYFID SOLÓRZANO ESPINOZA
SPECIAL REPORT FOR EL UNIVERSAL

Official talks between the Venezuelan government and steel and iron company Ternium Sidor to establish the terms under which the corporation is returning to Venezuelan State's hands have not started. However, Basic Industries and Mining Minister Rodoldo Sanz said that, even though "the original proposal is to turn the company into a firm fully owned by the Venezuelan State, we have not ruled out the idea that the Argentinean group keeps a minority stake in the steelworks."

Sanz announced that Friday he would meet with the officials of Sidor -Venezuela's largest steelmaker. They are to set the rules governing the company's transfer to the Venezuelan government. Then, talks on a pending collective barganing agreement would be resumed, based on the latest labor proposals.

In the meantime, the Argentinean government has not replied to a petition Paolo Rocca, CEO of Grupo Techint -the major stakeholder in Sidor- made asking President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to act as a mediator with the Venezuelan authorities.

Temporary blockade
After they met with Sanz, Sidor workers decided to resume domestic shipments of steel and iron products. Earlier on Wednesday, they halted deliveries nationwide.

However, shipments of flat steel products to foreign markets was discontinued amidst trade union leaders' claims that sales were plagued with irregularities. Dispatches will be resumed once the Executive Branch instructs so.

José Meléndez, a leader of Sidor trade union (Sutiss), rejected the statements made by Ternium Sidor's Human Rights Manager María Elena Posada, who claimed that workers broke in offices and forced the staff to leave.

Posada said "in the company there is growing tension, uncertainty. Since the announcement (of the government's plans to nationalize Sidor) we have not received any official communication from President Hugo Chávez endorsing the actions the trade union has adopted."

Meléndez conceded that, on his instructions, workers seized the offices and the Information Technology Department of Sidor. He claimed that "they were sending important company files to Argentina, namely files on steel shipments and sales, and then they used viruses to destroy the documents. Therefore, we moved to protect the computers and avoid such actions, which are ilegal. All we want is to protect this steel maker, which is now a Venezuelan company."

Sanz explained that "the IT Department of the company is currently guarded by the staff working there and the company's workers. They are to make sure that each document concerning the steel maker is kept safe for use by the government following the transfer."