Electricity Workers Kick out Bureaucratic Management in Valencia State

Valencia, October 24th, 2009 (Aporrea.org) – Electrical sector workers, after a just struggle against the managerial bureaucracy of Corpoelec [the state owned National Electricity Corporation] conveyed their satisfaction with the announcements by Chavez regarding the electrical sector. The Corpoelec bureaucracy has revealed itself in the large failures in the electrical service, and in the violation of the rights of workers. 

In this respect, on Friday morning in Carabobo [Valencia state], at the headquarters of Corpoelec-Cafade, workers carried out a protest. “Out with the bosses, for being incompetent” shouted dozens of electric sector workers in this protest demanding new, more efficient authorities capable of looking for solutions to the blackouts that daily leave thousands of Caraboban residents with out electricity. 

The protest also demanded the re-hire of a group of workers and some engineers who were unjustly fired by the management of Corpoelec. 

The protest culminated with the withdrawal of various managers and directors, who used their vehicles to open a path between the crowds of employees who sang loudly, “and they’re going, they’re going, the managerial bureaucracy is going”. 

The workers hugged and applauded, satisfied by the departure of the bureaucrats, whom they blame for inscrutability around the concrete causes of the failures in the electrical system and their supposed inefficiency with confronting the lack of maintenance of the power lines, transformers, and other infrastructure. 

The workers also pointed out that the management was indifferent to their complaints of attacks by electricity customers over the service failures and was hindering the discussion about the collective contract. 

“Today we have taken control, just as the president has said in his speeches. We are doing this in order to guarantee a service to the people and provide a solution to the problems. We want to provide a timeline of when electricity will be suspended and why, something that the authorities couldn’t do,” said Jesus Granados, general secretary of the Electrician’s Union of Carabobo. 

The electricians accused the management of keeping such information from the community, a situation which has provoked annoyance in the population over not knowing how long the blackout will last.

Workers also said that management didn’t care that this was happening and it is the workers who suffer the consequences, who are the victims of abuse and insults by people from various communities. 

The workers stressed that they are prepared to create a timeline of rationing and make it public, as the population has the right to know such information so that they can take necessary previsions while the electrical problems in the country are being solved.

Electrical workers agree with the statements by [Venezuelan president Hugo] Chavez, that, “the problem isn’t just technical, the problem is also political. Much of the management in the electrical companies are resisting the changes. Not all of them resist, but there’s a kind of knot, a Gordian knot, that resists the full participation of the workers.” 

Translated by Tamara Pearson for Venezuelanalysis.com