VHeadline Venezuela News reports: Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG) industrial workers are calling for the immediate government intervention of the Basic Industries & Mining (Mibam) Ministry on claims that too much improvisation in the supervision and selection of the management of CVG subsidiaries has exacerbated an already chaotic situation that is leading to conflicts of major proportions.

Industry representatives, Nelson Mora, Jose Reyes Garcia and Ortiz Reyes say that unions at CVG-Bauxilum and CVG-Carbonorca are warning of serious short-term conflicts in the nation's aluminum production sector if Mibam is not intervened to the core ... there are heightened conflicts over unilateral management enforced conditions on the workforce and the heavy industry conglomerate's failure to pay Bs.F 85 billion (approximately US$42.5 billion) in labor liabilities and investments that had already been pledged by the government. Mibam Minister Rodolfo Sanz had also pledged some US$222 billion to be paid by August 15 but neither hide nor hair of the funds has been seen despite a signed agreement.

"It was irresponsible of the three labor unions to accept the agreement, knowing that Minister Sanz would never honor the agreement ... unfortunately these agreements do not fulfill any expectations by the workers, and, on top of that, the Minister reneges on making the payments he had undertaken to make."

"Mibam Minister, Rodolfo Sanz, says he wants to encourage the development of the Guayana region and by naming him as the minister responsible, President Chavez had planned to deal with the core businesses, especially aluminum production ... but they're still improvising the appointment of company chairmen rather than to tackle the technical -- not political -- recovery of these key businesses."

There is general dissent over the appointment of management candidates from what's described as the "Diosdado Cabello Clan" in faraway Caracas, referring to a group of individuals close to the former vice president who have mysteriously grown extremely wealthy in recent years ... "These people have no experience of the production process at CVG-Bauxilum or critical problems related to lack of maintenance as well as the labor disputes arising from the non-payment of labor liabilities and many other problems that have not yet been resolved ... the decision to appoint Jesus Calvo as CVG-Bauxilum president, shows that Minister Rodolfo Sanz has no intention of recovering the company!"

"We are fighting for dignity, for the recovery of the company, but with a Minister who constantly deceives the people of Guayana, we can be sure that he is not at the forefront of any such move ... we continue to insist that Mibam Minister Rodolfo Sanz does something, because we believed that the creation of his ministry was aimed at getting rid of red tape ... but unfortunately Mibam has become an entity simply to make political propaganda and not for what it was originally conceived, i.e. to accelerate, rather than to obstruct, regional development."

CVG-Bauxilum is not alone in this crisis, it is the same thing with the rest of the CVG subsidiary companies, where Mibam should be involved ... until it is, the conflicts will continue, because of continuing operational problems and failures in production, as well as debts with suppliers that continue to grow at an alarming rate. The situation for some suppliers is most critical, and the leadership apparently doesn't want to do anything about it ... they refuse to attend meetings and they ignore the worker delegations that try to seek solutions.

"At the moment, we are organizing the union leadership to begins the struggle to rescue the businesses ... and that struggle begins with direct confrontation with Rodolfo Sanz. President Chavez has put the wrong man at the head of this ministry ... no corrective measures are taken in time, and the possibility is that we could face a large scale conflict which would paralyze the entire city of Ciudad Guayana if nothing is done."

Ortiz Reyes, secretary general of SUPCO, the employees' union at CVG-Carbonorca says he is concerned by large scale divestment in companies in the aluminum sector affecting CVG-Carbonorca's vital and active facilities for milling and compaction ... he emphasizes that they are already in a state of emergency because they do not have the tools or equipment to assure optimal production conditions. In the baking furnace production is reduced to 65% with add-on problems for CVG-Alcasa and CVG-Venalum .... "if we do not have the required investment, we will not be able to maintain the capacity to sell our production," Reyes adds.

He recommends that minister Sanz and the management of the companies concerned must take on technicians and professionals rather than incapable political appointees to avoid conflict in CVG-Alcasa and CVG-Venalum ... as a result of a lack of collective bargaining agreements and labor debts, he insists that all workers and members of trade union movements must help to solve the problem of Mibam's Rodolfo Sanz."

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