Chavistas try to split UNT

Pro-Chavez union leaders backed by the Labor Ministry have launched a new trade union centre in Venezuela – though it is not clear whether they will succeed.

Oswaldo Vera, the coordinator of the Bolivarian Socialist Workers Force (FSBT) and a National Assembly deputy announced the formation of a new national union federation on 13 April and called on unions to disaffiliate from the National Union of Workers (UNT).

Vera was flanked by Labor Minister José Ramon Rivero (also from the FSBT), according to Kiraz Janicke, writing on the Venezuelanalysis website. However Rivero was dismissed by Chavez two days later, suggesting the split may not have approval from the top. Rivero was also widely criticised for his handling of the dispute at Venezuela's largest steel plant, SIDOR, which Chavez nationalised earlier this month.

Vera praised the formation of the United Federation of Venezuelan Oil Workers (FUTPV), in September last year as a great example of uniting three major oil worker's federations. However, Jose Bodas, general secretary of the Fedepetral union said, "this is a big lie, the FUTPV, the federation that will group oil workers still does not exist legitimately. Elections have not been held to form it and in reality there is only a provisional leadership handpicked by the Minister of Labor and the Minister of Energy."

Vera claimed that the new federation was supported by 17 national unions currently part of the UNT. However UNT national coordinators rejected the claim. Orlando Chirino, C-CURA rank and file caucus accused the "red bureaucrats" of the government of carrying out a "coup" via the FSBT "against the autonomous and democratic will of the Venezuelan workers." For Chirino the proposed new federation is a sign that "the government wants to control the labour movement."

Even Marcela Máspero, from the pro-Chavez the CTR current, said this new federation "emerges from the endogenous right wing of the revolution" and accused the FSBT of implementing "the same bureaucratic practices as the CTV." The move was also opposed by Stalin Perez Borges, leader of the Socialist Tide.

The new federation may be stillborn. But it is a warning about the drift in Venezuelan politics – and another reminder of the need for independent working class politics.