Oil Workers Plan Protests for Caracas OPEC Summit

 
Oil and politics will mix, perhaps violently, at the upcoming OPEC Summit in Caracas, Venezuela. Carlos Ortega, president of the powerful Venezuelan Oil Workers Federation (FEDEPETROL), has announced plans to stage a protest march to coincide with the summit, scheduled for September 27 and 28. The event promises to mark another chapter in the struggle over President Hugo Chávez's "democratic revolution."

The Venezuelan government has promised to squash the Confederación de Trabajadores Venezolanos (CTV), the national confederation of unions, and replace it with its own "participatory" national trade union body. It has presented this attack as part of the new direct participation system that Chávez has declared as his goal for Venezuelan society. Petróleos de Venezuela, the state oil company, has adopted the government's direct participation policy and insisted on negotiating with its workers directly, bypassing their union. As a result, the country's oil workers have been unable to renegotiate their collective contract.

Venezuela's unions have a long tradition of political activism. In the 1950s, they were the center of the resistance against the Pérez-Jiménez dictatorship, providing strong support to the eventual installation of a democratic regime under Rómulo Betancourt. Their association with now-weakened traditional parties has made them a prime target of the Chávez political machine, but the country's unions are still a power and have strong international supporters. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has advised the Venezuelan government that it is violating international labor rights in its legal maneuvering against workers' rights to free association and collective bargaining.

Ortega vows that despite being called traitors, the workers will protest come "rain, thunder or lightning." However, the FEDEPETROL leadership has practiced brinksmanship before. It is possible that once again it will pull back before a direct confrontation. The situation is delicate and threatens to disrupt Chávez's efforts to impress fellow OPEC members.