Venezuela Guarantees Job Security in Nationalized Cement Companies

[Joanne98]

The Venezuelan government will guarantee the job security of the 4,600 workers in nationalized cement factories, according to a statement released over the weekend by the Venezuelan Energy and Petroleum Minister, Rafael Ramírez.

Ramírez, who heads up the Venezuelan indemnity negotiation commission, commented that the workers "should feel joyous, because following this nationalization we will re-establish just relations for all."

The minister also made clear that the sovereign decision of the Venezuelan government to nationalize the cement industry "does not have to do with transnational companies," but rather the government’s goals for the Venezuelan people, goals which do not "fall into line with the transnational strategy of any company."

The nationalization of nearly 40 cement plants of the Mexico-based company CEMEX, France’s Lafarge, and the Swiss company Holcim, was proclaimed by President Hugo Chávez April 3rd.

The Venezuelan Minister of Labor, José Ramón Rivero, met with the cement workers unions Monday concerning the nationalizations. With regard to firings that have already taken place in nationalized plants, the minister said “we are not going to accept this”.

Conversation with the workers “cannot be left aside,” Rivero asserted, “because it represents a new labor relationship that will permit a new distribution in order to attend to the different public works projects going on in the country.”

The United Cement Workers Union of the state of Anzoátegui, which participated in meetings Monday, guaranteed a steady supply of cement during and after the nationalizations.

“The workers are totally in favor of the nationalization,” the general secretary of the union, Oscar Rondón, declared.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3355