Unease over low wages in Venezuela grows even among Chavistas

Demonstrators confront police during a protest calling for better wages, in Caracas.Miguel Gutierrez (EFE)

Anger over low wages is on the rise in Venezuela, even among the Chavista ranks themselves. The expected announcements of salary improvements by the Government of Nicolás Maduro on May 1 have increased the condemnation of most of the labor leagues and labor fronts. Thousands of public and private sector workers, teachers, doctors and nurses, pensioners and retirees have held protests these days, calling the government's announcements a "mockery".

On May Day, Labor Day, at a rally in front of his supporters, Maduro announced the increase of a salary bonus of $ 30 (called "Economic War Bonus"), and the increase of the basket tickets to $ 40, but did not increase the monthly minimum wage, which with its value of five dollars is the lowest in Latin America. Venezuela's monthly minimum wage was several times the highest in the region until at least the first decade of the twenty-first century.

"With this decree of Maduro, all labor legislation in the country is violated," says Jaqueline Richter, a labor lawyer and academic at the Central University of Venezuela. "90% of the worker's income is now bonuses, not averaging for vacations, or for the end of the year, or for benefits. Most seriously, these increases destroy the country's Social Security system. Not even the dictators of the Southern Cone of the 70s dared to desalinate work in this way," he adds.

Pedro García, a retired activist and member of the board of the National Conflict Committee – an umbrella body that brings together disgruntled trade union organizations – affirms that the platform to which he belongs discusses with its members about the next steps to take, and they do not rule out a staggered sequence of work stoppages. "The world of work is abuzz, the hassle is great. Pensioners and retirees are preparing a day of protest for this May 15, "he warns.

"The increases announced by Maduro are a hoax," says María Alejandra Díaz, a labor lawyer, former constituent and Chavista militant. "Until last month, they were paying $44 at change, and now the income is worth half." Díaz harshly criticized that Miraflores excused himself, first, in the existing difficulties with international sanctions, and that now he does so invoking the consequences of the recent anti-corruption purge that has led to the jailing of several collaborators of Maduro himself.

The spokesmen of the high government argue that the Executive makes enormous efforts to improve wage income in the devastated Venezuelan economy, and that the compromise of international sanctions on the country together with the siege of the Maduro administration have hindered these objectives.

Maduro reacted irritably to the criticism: "They seek to destroy me." He promised that "sooner rather than later" the nation will firmly begin the path to wage recovery, "to silence the talk of social media talk," he said. "It is a true economic miracle that in the midst of this war we can meet the needs of our people," Jorge Rodriguez, of the ruling PSUV and current president of the Legislative Branch, said in a fiery speech. "I would like to know in which country in the world a government increases the income of its workers by 2,000%."

The billionaire embezzlement of the PDVSA-Cripto corruption network – structured around Tarek El Aissami, one of the disgraced hierarchs of the regime – has produced a drain on resources that has placed the Government of Nicolás Maduro in serious cash flow problems. Miraflores has lost 3,000 million dollars that it has not been able to invest in government works because of uncollected oil bills. The corrupt officials of Chavismo used the alternative routes required by the siege of international sanctions to appropriate the money from the sale of oil.

The fiscal impact of the lost money explains the flattening of the growth curve of this first quarter of 2023, and has forced some economists to recalculate the general behavior of the national economy this year.

Nicmer Evans, political activist, founder of the Democracy and Inclusion movement, former Chavista militant, said that "the magic trick that Maduro has presented has generated great indignation in the working people. The salary bonus violates the Organic Labor Law that they themselves created. The labor protests are going to accelerate."

Follow all the international information on Facebook and Twitter, or in our weekly newsletter.