"The Executive Committee of the trade union Suprofard, which
organises the pharmaceutical workers in Caracas, Venezuela denounces the
company RACE C.A for its refusal to recognise our trade union.
We are the legitimate representatives of the workers on the shopfloor
and the way in which management is behaving means that the workers we
represent are being denied their most elementary rights.
The right of workers to organise in trade unions and to be
represented by the trade union of their choice is fundamental and
established in the Venezuelan Labour code and in the Venezuelan
Constitution.
Our trade union Suprofard has been legally registered and can count
on the support of the majority of the workers in this workplace.
Company management refuses to recognise the trade union and refuses
to start collective wage negotiations or to respond in any way or form
to the demands of the workers. What management has done is to put
pressure, intimidate and even physically threaten workers who are
supporting the trade union Suprofard.
The management of RACE have started to organise a ‘yellow’ [scab]
trade union named Unitrace. This trade union is led by the lawyer Debora
Espinoza who quite conveniently for the management of RACE is also the
labour inspector for the capital district of Caracas.
We are also denouncing the way in which the company has forced
workers to sign a monstrosity of a contract.
Our trade union Suprofard will, after consultation with the
membership and in accordance with the Labour code of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela take industrial action to secure the rights of the
workforce.
We are calling on all trade union organisations, national and
international, to send letters of protest to the Ministry of Labour:
[email protected] and [email protected]
Please send copies of your letter to [email protected] , [email protected],
[email protected] , [email protected] and [email protected]
We are also asking for financial support for the strike fund of the
Suprofard trade union."
