General Secretary of the Unitary Federation of Petroleum Workers of Venezuela (Futpv), José Bodas, criticized the management of Pedro Tellechea as president of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (Pdvsa) for “promoting semi-slavery in the workforce”.
By La Patilla Correspondent
It should be remembered that Telechea completed one year in office on 6 January. And, according to the union member, although expectations were raised in the beginning, the reality today is that workers still do not receive better wages and benefits.
“We have seen a lot of discontent among the workforce because we still have no collective contract and they already owe us two. Furthermore, they have not reactivated SICOPROSA (Contributory System for Health Security), which violates the right to health and life,” he said.
Bodas stressed the need for decent medical insurance for active and retired personnel, especially given the poor state of public health centers in the country.
“The decline in housing loans continues. Not to mention the salary, on which bonuses continue. Over 97% of oil workers’ income comes from bonuses which have no impact on the calculation of benefits or holidays. Incidentally, some additional payments such as overtime or travel time payments are not being cancelled,” he said.
In the opinion of the spokesperson, this accumulation of things is a cruel offensive towards workers’ rights and he reiterated that “Telechea’s policy is to guarantee workers both PDVSA and contractors and international companies with starvation wages and semi-slavery conditions. ,
The general secretary of FUTPAV said that workers working in the oil industry in the state of Anzoátegui are holding continuous meetings with the aim of putting pressure on the authorities again and defining what strategies they will have to respond to them. They have been waiting for years.
“At the moment, the current management of PDVSA has not given us anything new. They continue the state policy of destroying salaries, torturing those who fought, etc.,” he concluded.
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