José Bodas Lugo: ‘Maduro's government has imposed an open dictatorship against the working class’

Below is an exclusive interview with José Bodas Lugo, General Secretary of the United Federation of Oil Workers of Venezuela (FUTPV). Bodas is also a prominent figure in the C-CURA (Classist, Unitary, Revolutionary and Autonomous Current) trade union movement and a member of the PSL (Socialism and Freedom Party).

In this material, produced especially for the International Labour Network of Solidarity and Struggles, the leader offers a raw and detailed analysis of the ‘social catastrophe’ facing the Venezuelan working class. Throughout the conversation, Bodas addresses crucial issues such as the erosion of wages, the policy of repression and judicialisation of protest under Nicolás Maduro's government, the surrender of oil sovereignty to transnational capital, and the urgent need for class independence to confront both government austerity measures and imperialist aggression.

This interview is an essential document for understanding the reality of the Venezuelan oil industry from the perspective of those who produce the wealth and resist at the gates of the refineries.

• ILNSS: What is the wage and living situation of oil workers?

JBL: First of all, we must reject and condemn the attacks being carried out by Donald Trump's far-right government in the Caribbean against Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Mexico, and Ecuador, where the threats are growing and where boats have been bombed, with family members reporting that more than 60 fishermen have been killed so far. This situation is a threat to the Venezuelan working class and the people of Venezuela.

At the same time, we reject and condemn the pro-imperialist attitude of María Corina de John Goicochea, Leopoldo López and the pro-employer, pro-imperialist right wing in saying that they support intervention by the world's leading power, the imperialist government of the United States.

We say this without giving any political support to the government of Nicolás Maduro, which we consider to be a dictatorship that is applying brutal capitalist economic austerity measures against the workers and people of Venezuela.

The Maduro government is implementing brutal capitalist austerity measures, which it has called the programme for recovery, growth and economic prosperity since 2018, accompanied by Memorandum 2792 and the instructions of the National Budget Office (ONAPRE), which amount to nothing more than the non-discussion of collective agreements and no wage increases of any kind in Venezuela.

This is being done in the context of the persecution of workers and trade union leaders and the criminalisation of trade union activity and social protest in Venezuela. There are a large number of trade union leaders and political prisoners who are workers fighting for their rights.

In the oil industry, we are talking about more than 160 workers detained nationwide, and recently, on Saturday, we saw how union leader Elías Torres, general secretary of the CTB, the trade union confederation, was detained, as was a construction worker.

These arrests and repressions are not isolated cases; they are the government's way of implementing this package of capitalist austerity measures. As a result, in the oil industry, an oil worker in Venezuela earns a salary of approximately $40 per month.

So now, $40 per month is what is referred to in the collective agreements as the salary.

This is what is calculated for social benefits, holidays and, above all, after 30 years, 20 years of service in the industry, well, the salary we have had is that workers have a maximum of $4,000 after 35 years in the oil industry in social benefits.

This also includes savings accounts and, of course, the salary, profits, end-of-year profits and all contractual and legal salary benefits. So, oil workers have a salary of £40, we have a transport allowance equivalent to approximately £25.

This is a transport allowance, but it does not affect our wages in any way. We also have a food card. This food card is worth £60. It is called a social food allowance.

Then there is the CAPEC, which is £150 for buying food.

This CAPEC is a system, there are some, let's say, establishments that sell food, they have some items such as rubber, car batteries, telephones, with the particularity that it is £150 to buy these food items in the oil industry establishments, but these establishments are up to 40% and in some cases 60% more expensive than the market.

Food and items such as air conditioning and vehicle tools are also sold, as well as rubber, and it turns out that some items are up to 60% more expensive than what the capitalist market establishes, as the government calls this situation.

Of course, we have to say that in the oil industry we have three years.

Three years without collective bargaining discussions. The oil collective agreement lasts two years, and three collective bargaining agreement discussions are owed, which is why we at Secura are calling for the organisation of councils in defence of the collective bargaining agreement and wages. We are calling for the autonomous organisation of workers in these committees in defence of wages and the discussion of the collective bargaining agreement so that the working class, which is mobilised, can impose the discussion of the oil collective bargaining agreement in Venezuela.

The national government has stated that Venezuela has experienced 17 consecutive quarters of growth in gross domestic product over the past three years, following years of contraction that saw the Venezuelan economy shrink by more than 80%.

However, despite this growth, the national government has said that it is between 5 and 6% per annum, which is the fastest growing economy on the continent, we see how this growth in gross domestic product has not been reflected in wages.

Wages are falling due to hyperinflation, inflation, and the lack of collective bargaining agreements. In the oil industry, the wage is $40, but in Venezuela, the normal wage for public sector workers and many workers and retirees in the oil industry is less than half a dollar.

130 bolivars, and the dollar today in Venezuela is 247 bolivars per dollar. The government has some bonuses that were achieved through the mobilisation of the working class, but these economic and food war bonuses, which range from $120 to $240, have no impact either.

It depends on the sector, the mobilisation. So, these bonuses are insufficient and, of course, wages in Venezuela are totally destroyed. This is the result of the capitalist adjustment of the national government.

It is the government that has gone furthest in Latin America and in the world in its policy of destroying wages, collective bargaining and the historical demands of the working class.

• ILNSS: How are workers reacting to this situation?

JBL: Well, Venezuelan workers in both the public and private sectors are reacting and PDVSA is organising itself. Despite the repression, persecution and criminalisation of trade union activity, there have been demonstrations and struggles by workers over specific issues, such as the fight in Venezuela for a wage equal to the basic basket of goods, wages and pensions for our retirees equal to the basic basket of goods, this discussion of collective agreements, the fight against repression and in favour of the freedom of workers imprisoned for fighting. In this sense, we are fighting and we call on the entire working class, regardless of any political, ideological or trade union differences, to mobilise democratically in assemblies, to fight for a plan of action for the specific, most heartfelt demands of workers, to be able to materialise it with mobilisation and struggle, calling for the establishment of grassroots committees, permanent assemblies, and permanent mobilisation for all our rights.

In this regard, the workers who referred to Puerto La Cruz in the state of Anzú, Ategui, said that I have more than 35 years of service, and we have always been guided by a phrase that is more than a phrase, more than a slogan, it is a path that only struggle can change the lives of the working class.

• ILNSS: And does the government attend to workers in its office?

JBL: We must denounce that the government, together with employers, Fedecámaras and transnational corporations, are applying this capitalist adjustment so that the gross domestic product increases more and more at the expense of the super-exploitation of the working class.

In order for the macroeconomy to grow, for Venezuelan business owners, the Venezuelan bourgeoisie and transnational corporations to make greater profits, the government simply has a policy of not discussing collective agreements. a policy that since 2018 has prohibited the discussion of collective agreements that are no more than three years old, that does not allow for wage increases, that does not allow for wage bonuses, that does not allow for wage increases of any kind, and that applies these ultra-processed food bags, which in some sectors have not been available for some time, In other sectors, let's say that the provision of these mechanisms is more regular, but they are a way of trying to compensate for something that is not being achieved due to the brutal adjustment of the Venezuelan economy by this capitalist package that the government calls a programme of recovery, growth and economic prosperity.

In this regard, there are a large number of workers who have been laid off in the oil industry and have been ordered to be rehired, a large number of workers who were laid off in the private industry. They have been ordered to be rehired and paid back wages, and yet neither private nor public employers are responding to these workers.

Many workers with immunity claim that they are being dismissed, that they are being forced into retirement, that they are being persecuted for defending the autonomy of the trade union movement and the democratisation of the trade union movement. The government and the trade union movement bring together workers from different political currents and different political parties.

Many are not members of any political party, but nevertheless, the union is a tool for struggle that, in our view, must be democratic, with the assembly determining the path to follow and approving a plan of action to recover all these benefits that we are talking about, all these constitutional, legal and contractual demands. However, the government does not listen to the workers, and when it does listen, it simply does not change the reality of dismissal, and they are not reinstated in their jobs or paid their social security contributions or benefits.

• ILNSS: Is the CSTB-CCP leading the protests?

JBL: The Socialist Workers' Central of Venezuela, an official union that undoubtedly acts as a conduit for the policies of the national government and private employers.

It certainly does not call for any protests, nor does it call for discussions on collective agreements for teachers, educators, the health sector, oil industry workers, electricity workers, or basic industries in Guayana.

The CBP, the CBG, the CBG in Guayana in Bolívar state, that is, this pro-government union is a union that supports the government's policy and the policy of employers, both public and private, in destroying our rights.

Today we see how business owners and employers are demanding the reform of the Organic Labour Law and the reform of collective agreements because they want to eliminate the retroactivity of social benefits.

The retroactivity of social benefits guarantees that workers who have had 15, 20, or 30 years of service in a company are paid for all their years of service in the company during their last month of effective work.

This is a very important achievement in the fight against inflation and in guaranteeing workers' rights. The retroactivity of social benefits and job security are achievements that have been won through mobilisation and struggle, but today they are under threat and are being ignored by private employers and the government. The discussion of collective agreements and all these benefits are in fact being ignored, but they are in the laws and in the collective agreements.

Well, the government and private employers have a policy of ignoring these rights, but now they want to reform the laws so that these rights do not exist, which is what employers are doing today in Venezuela.

And the national government disregards the right to collective bargaining, the right to health, the right to wages and pensions equal to the basic basket of goods, and all these contractual benefits, a wage equal to the basic basket of goods to be discussed in collective agreements, job security and, above all, an end to the repression and criminalisation of trade union activity.

• ILNSS: The government is organising an International Working Class Congress. What do you think about that?

JBL: Yes, indeed, the government has organised an international working class congress. The problem is that the Venezuelan working class was not invited.

The trade union bureaucracy handpicks these delegates, who are always the same people and, above all, members of the ruling party who do not represent the areas or the struggles for the interests of the working class. They are not fighting for a collective agreement in Venezuela that is equal to the basic basket of goods, nor are they discussing collective agreements. do not speak out about the number of workers and trade union leaders detained for fighting, since trade union activity in Venezuela is criminalised. That is why we demand once again the full freedom of all workers, all trade union leaders imprisoned for fighting and all political prisoners.

In this sense, we call for the recovery of trade unions and federations as tools for the struggle of the working class, for trade unions to be schools of struggle, for the working class to be democratic in these trade union organisations that use the method of permanent mobilisation as a guarantee of victory and of the recovery and defence of our demands, of wages, of working conditions, of the conditions that should exist in the workplace.

• ILNSS: And what about the workers' constituent assembly? What is your opinion?

JBL: The national government, through the Minister of Labour, has convened a trade union constituent assembly with the intention of delivering the final blow to trade union organisations.

The government has spoken out on an issue that only concerns Venezuelan workers, since trade unions, federations and confederations are tools of the working class and only workers' organisations.

Organised workers must govern the destiny of these organisations.

This constituent assembly is not being called to fight against the national government's capitalist austerity measures, nor to put an end to the government's economic policy, which, through the overexploitation of the Venezuelan working class, produces economic growth figures that do not reflect the reality of Venezuelan workers' wages, working conditions and demands.

It is not a constituent assembly to defend the historic gains made since the 1936 oil fields in Zulia and Falcón, in the west and east of the country.

It is a trade union constituent assembly to support the government, to support policies that criminalise trade union activity and destroy wages. It is not a constituent assembly that proposes to fight for wages and pensions for retirees equal to the basic basket of goods, nor to recover the trade unions from the bureaucracy.

On the contrary, it is a constituent assembly to legalise the dispossession and elimination of the historical rights of the Venezuelan working class, such as the retroactivity of social benefits, the discussion of collective agreements, wages and pensions equal to the basic basket of goods, job stability and the defence of trade union activity.

• ILNSS: There was a preparatory meeting for the International Working Class Congress on 1 November. Did your Federation participate? Did you participate?

JBL: Yes, there was a preparatory meeting for the International Working Class Congress. We saw it because the trade union bureaucracy that supports the national government presented it in the media and on social networks. But the workers, this was done completely behind the workers' backs.

This is common practice, and in some cases, these decisions are made and members are chosen from the ruling party and not from the unions or federations. And in other cases, it is the government's own militants who handpick these representatives.

Sure, there were oil industry workers at the FUTE congress, but only because they were members of the ruling party. No steering committee was formed within the FUTE where the executive committee, all the union leaders of the FUTE, regardless of their political affiliation, could decide to hold assemblies to choose democratically.

No, that is not the method. That is not the method. It is not the method of the working class. It is not the method of democracy that should exist in trade unions.

It is the method whereby the employer, whether public or private, or the national government, or ultimately the ruling party or the ministers of the national government, handpick these delegates without the participation of the Venezuelan working class.

• ILNSS: And use the space for comments you consider relevant.

JBL: At C-CURA and the PCE, we are convinced that through mobilisation and the democratic participation of workers, we can and will defeat the anti-worker, anti-union and anti-popular policies of the national government and employers.

Specifically, the Venezuelan bourgeoisie, which represents the programme of recovery, growth and economic prosperity. We want to carry out the mobilisations and struggles with a view to building a government of workers and the popular sectors in Venezuela.

And specifically, we are fighting for a workers' and popular emergency plan financed, right? through the social and economic fund whose resources come from the country's economic sectors with progressive taxes, so that this money does not come from the payment of Venezuela's foreign debt or from non-investment in police or military spending.

In this way, with 100% Venezuelan oil, without joint ventures, but democratically managed by the workers, we will have a wage equal to the basic basket of goods, pensions for our retirees, investment in health, which today is totally destroyed, as are the public health centres in Venezuela, and in education, both for wages equal to the basic basket of goods for educators and to improve the infrastructure of schools, colleges and universities in Venezuela.

For the construction of housing for workers and the popular sectors, to recover the electricity industry, Cantev, the telephone industry and the basic industries of Guayana. This is the perspective for which we are fighting today in Venezuela.

And we want the working class, which is the class that generates all the wealth in Venezuela and in the world, to be able to organise itself and achieve a resounding and historic victory so that each and every one of our demands is respected, the discussion of the collective agreement, wages and pensions equal to the basic basket of goods.

Will all this be possible if we succeed in establishing a government in Venezuela for the working class and the popular sectors? Only struggle can change the life of the working class. And today, the Venezuelan working class is one of the most overexploited working classes

in Venezuela and in the world. It is a reality that wages are not enough, that we do not have wages, that bonuses are not enough, that workers in Venezuela today do not work 8 hours, they work 12 and 14 hours. And it is for the recovery of the 8-hour day.

It is the recovery of all our demands.

That is why we are calling on the working class, on the entire working class, to permanent mobilisation and to democratic discussion within the trade unions, federations and confederations to vote on a plan of struggle and permanent mobilisation so that we can recover each and every one of our rights.

Thank you very much, comrades. Greetings from here to the Brazilian working class, to the popular sectors in Brazil, to our comrades in CSP-Conlutas, with whom we are united in the struggles and mobilisations for a resounding and historic victory for the Venezuelan working class and also for the Brazilian working class. Greetings, comrades.