That's not gonna happen as long as CTV leaders are allowed to blacklist dissenting unionists, commit union election frauds, etc. (see below).
***** Coup-making in Venezuela: the Bush and oil factors
by Karen Talbot Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), globalresearch.ca, 14 June 2002
...NED and labor
The largest NED grants, by far, consistently go to so-called "labor solidarity" groups--usually in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These are funneled to groups in various countries through the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS) or its regional counterparts, which are connected with the AFL-CIO. In fact ACILS is described as one of the four core NED institutes. The others are: The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, and the Center of International Private Enterprise.(28)
In the case of Venezuela, the New York Times pointed out in a candid article entitled "U.S. Bankrolling Is Under Scrutiny for Ties to Chávez Ouster," that the NED quadrupled its budget to $877,000 for that country just prior to the coup attempt. ACILS' share of the new budget was $154,377. (29)
But ACILS also had been receiving grants for activities in Venezuela in the prior couple of years. For example in 2000, ACILS received $60,084 "[t]o support the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) to effect reforms intended to increase rank and file control over decision making. ACILS will conduct courses for regional federations of the CTV, focusing on problems and challenges for unions in a changing world, restructuring of labor organizations, and establishing internal elections for union leadership.(30)
This sounds innocuous, even laudable. However, clearly such "internal elections" had not been carried out up to that time, during the many years prior to Chávez's presidency. Even the statement issued by the AFL-CIO about the events in Venezuela said that in October and November 2001, CTV members voted in the "first one-member-one vote, secret ballot union election in Venezuelan history." (31) The obvious question is: if the CTV was in need of democratization throughout its history, why did this involvement of ACILS/NED start just at the time Chávez was instituting major reforms in the country including taking more direct hold of the oil industry for the benefit of the people of Venezuela, including by appointing new members to the management board of the PDVSA?
Ironically, the Venezuelan unions' operations are more transparent than at any time in history partly because of a number of reforms that were launched by Chávez who had pushed through a referendum calling for Mr. Ortega and all other labor leaders to stand for direct elections before the rank and file last October, according to Wall Street Journal. (32) After elections were held, there followed accusations of fraud when Ortega and the old guard declared themselves the winners and refused to submit the official results and ballots to the government. The International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the AFL-CIO, of course, had denounced this referendum as interference in the internal affairs of unions.
The AFL-CIO and NED proudly stated in the invitation to a closed forum on February 12, which they sponsored, that the CTV played "a key role in the national strike on December 10"--an action called by business owners which resulted in sending millions of workers home. The invitation also said the CTV had joined with business and other groups in "a massive demonstration against the government on January 23."(33) It remains unanswered whether or not the union members ever participated in a vote to support the "strike."
The amount of money allotted to ACILS for work in Venezuela is relatively small and could be dismissed as insignificant. And the AFL-CIO statement about ACILS work in Venezuela states that all the funds were used only for "printing of election materials, the training of CTV election committees, and the sponsoring of forums which brought labor, business, human rights and religious leaders together in defense of freedom of association." Further, the statement "unequivocally condemned the coup attempt of April 12th." (34)
Yet, the ACILS Venezuelan operation should be seen in the context of the total amounts of money directed by NED to ACILS for work in other selected countries. The sums given for ACILS operations are nearly always considerably larger than for other grantees. ACILS also receives funds from the Agency for International Development (AID), acknowledged Barbara Shailor, head of ACILS, according to an article titled "Its time to come clean: Open the AFL-CIO Archives on International Labor Operations."(35)
28. Ibid. 29."U.S. Bankrolling Is Under Scrutiny for Ties to Chávez Ouster," New York Times, Apr. 25, 2002. 30. See NED web site, year 2000 grants. 31. "The AFL-CIO and Worker Rights in Venezuela." 32. Op. cit.,Lifsher, WSJ, 14. [Marc Lifsher, "Venezuelan Crisis Deepens, Cutting Oil Flow and Threatening Chávez," Wall Street Journal. Apr. 12, 2002.] 33. As reported by Kathryn Hoyt, Co-coordinator, Nicaragua Network. 34. Op. cit. AFL-CIO statement. 35. Kim Scipes, "Its time to come clean: Open the AFL-CIO Archives on International Labor Operations", Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2, Summer,2000, p. 151.
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/TAL206A.html> *****
At 2:37 PM -0600 12/5/02, Carrol Cox wrote:
>At 2:40 PM -0500 12/5/02, Nathan Newman wrote:
>>I hope over time, more progressive forces within the union,
>>independent of direct Chavez control, take over the CTV
>
>Does anyone know of _any_ precedent in all of modern history in which a
>Union leadership linked to reactionary military & business interests,
>has "over time" (i.e., gradually and legally) take over control -- and
>do so, incidentally, by first rejecting the support of the most popular
>leader in the nation? This is perhaps the most bizarre statement that
>has ever been made on lbo-talk. Nathan is inviting democratic local
>leaders in the CTV to commit suicide.
Venezuelan unionists never had a chance to participate in a "one-member-one vote, secret ballot union election" before the Chavez administration received the mandate to reform unions (see above). No such union election will be held again if the FEDECAMARAS/CTV/Right-Wing Military coalition succeed in the next coup attempt against Chavez. -- Yoshie
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