Forty percent of companies with labor disputes nationalized

Trade unions are demanding not economic benefits for workers, but the nationalizations of their companies (Photo: G. Bandres / File)

Related articles - Weekly Summary / Venezuela expropriated Mexican cement maker Cemex

The automotive industry has been one of the most seriously hit by labor protests

SUHELIS TEJERO PUNTES
EL UNIVERSAL

Forty percent of the companies in Venezuela that have been recently faced with serious labor disputes are now in government's hands.

The most serious labor protests in the private sector have made a major impact on 27 companies, mostly multinationals. Workers have staged actions including blockades at the gates of cement and car manufacturing plants or demonstrations to demand nationalization of companies.

Since last year, 11 industries of the 27 mentioned above have been nationalized, either through expropriation, intervention or takeover.

In four cases, the Venezuelan government resorted to expropriation, including that of steelmaker Sidor, and cement companies France's Lafarge, Switzerland's Holcim and Mexico's Cemex. In another case, President Hugo Chávez's government took over dairy company Lácteos Los Andes. Finally, Venezuelan authorities decided to nationalize Venezuelan cement company Cemento Andino. The government appointed a board of directors which is now controlling the corporation. Although the expropriation decree was passed, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) is yet to rule on the ownership of the shares.

Everything is under control
Nationalization of the former oil operational agreements Cerro Negro, Sincor and Petrozuata, which operated in the Orinoco Oil Belt, was completed through a different mechanism. Amidst harsh labor protests and following the government decision to declare the companies of strategic character, the Venezuelan state bought a majority stake in the oil firms. Chávez government forced former owners to keep a minority stake only.

Further, serious labor protests resulted in worsened financial problems in transnational mining company Hecla. As a result, the firm was sold to Russian company Rusoro, which signed an agreement with the Venezuelan government to launch a joint venture that will be responsible for operating the mines and easing tensions among workers, who demanded the nationalization of the mines.

Additionally, the first time President Chávez hinted the nationalization of Cantv, Venezuela's major telecommunications firm, he was reacting to the corporation's refusal to honor labor liabilities with some 8,000 pensioners.

One year after his first warning, and after saying that the telecommunication sector was a strategic industry for Venezuela, Chávez nationalized Cantv.

The link between labor protests and nationalizations is not a coincidence. Last April, when Chávez disclosed his plans to take over Sidor, Venezuelan Vice-President Ramón Carrizález said the government intended to perform a number of nationalizations to include any private companies acting in bad faith regarding labor matters, which according to the government was the case with Argentinean steelmaker Sidor.

Labor protests in the car manufacturing industry have worsened in recent months. This industry has been the most seriously affected in the productive sector. In fact, the assembly plants of foreign-owned companies such as Toyota, MMC Automotriz, Ford Motor, and more recently, General Motors, have been hit by workers' demonstrations that have included blockades of the gates of assembly plants.
stejero@eluniversal.com

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas