Featured Articles - Labor

The recent replacement of the labor minister and the nationalization of Sidor have once again brought to the fore the question of the role of workers in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, whose participation as an organized class has been sporadic at best, in this process aimed at constructing ‘Socialism of the 21st Century.’

Because of the apparent connection between the oil workers' union and the coup attempt, and the long-standing ties between the CTV and the US labor center, the AFL-CIO, questions have risen about possible involvement of the AFL-CIO in the coup attempt. This article addresses the question of possible AFL-CIO involvement in the coup attempt, trying to confirm or deny any possible involvement.

The different factions or currents within the National Union of Workers (the UNT, the pro-Chávez confederation of labor unions) have fallen out over priorities. What is up for grabs is the meaning of XXI century Socialism and the UNT’s role within it.

Worker management is a real alternative. If co-management succeeds in Venezuela, it will be an inspiration to workers everywhere. And, if co-management fails, it will strengthen the rule of capital; the message to workers will be that there is no alternative.

Since its inception in May 2003, the UNT has been at the center of debates surrounding the advances of Venezuela’s revolution in the labor arena. At root, these debates turn on issues of worker control: over their factories and over their unions. Democracy is at the heart of the attempt by Venezuelan workers to reinvent a labor movement long characterized by corruption and class collaboration.