[news] A Brief Recent History of Venezuela's Labor Movement

[Resist!ca]

By: Jonah Gindin - Venezuelanalysis.com When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998, inaugurating a process of radical political and social changes, it looked as though labor might be left behind.  The main labor central, the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) was one of his most avid critics, and Chavez in turn lashed out verbally against the CTV on a regular basis.  But the image of Chavez vs Labor, repeatedly thrown at the unsuspecting casual observer by the mainstream media, is precisely intended to mislead.  The unpleasant truth is that the CTV has not adequately represented Venezuelan workers since the 1970s, if not before.  The reality of Chavez vs the CTV, then, does not exclude the active and enthusiastic participation of a large proportion of Venezuelan workers in his Bolivarian revolution (named after Latin American Independence leader Simon Bolivar).

URL: http://resist.ca/story/2004/10/19/17583/165