On September 3rd, 2014, The Washington Post posted an report on the Sidor trade dispute in Ciudad Guyana. It follows a basic narrative on Venezuela: Economic problems are rooted in top-down socialist economics. Also include statements on corruption and inflation. Problem was that by the time this article was published, the dispute was already resolved.
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A once-proud industrial city, now a monument to Venezuela’s economic woes
By Nick Miroff September 3 at 10:16 PM
Long before Hugo Chávez launched his socialist revolution, government planners came here to Venezuela’s eastern frontier, where the mighty Orinoco and Caroni rivers converge, and envisioned an industrial workers’ paradise.
President Rómulo Betancourt, a key partner in John F. Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress,” founded the city in 1961, inviting his countrymen to turn Ciudad Guayana into a tropical Pittsburgh.
More than a city, “it felt like you were building a country,” said Alfredo Rivas, who arrived as a young engineer and went on to become president of the huge steelworks here.
A half-century later and 15 years after Chávez came to power, Ciudad Guayana’s factories are crippled, starved for investment and roiled by labor disputes.
Source:http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/a-once-proud-industrial-city-now-a-monument-to-venezuelas-economic-woes/2014/09/03/4b577663-8f18-4841-b958-eee3b8830ad9_story.html
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As I mentioned, this dispute was already resolved, as Venezuela Analysis can report.
Venezuelan Steel Plant Sidor Renews Operation
By SASCHA BERCOVITCH
Caracas, August 18th 2014 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Following the announcement of a collective workers’ contract signed at the end of last week, the Sidor steel plant in Ciudad Guyana will reopen for normal operation, several officials confirmed this afternoon.
“I opened the plant, and we did a tour to enact a complete overhaul and maintenance plan,” Minister of Industry José David Cabello wrote earlier on Twitter. “My congratulations to the Sidor workers who have demonstrated their commitment to productivity.”
The development comes after weeks of conflict between workers at the state-owned plant and the Venezuelan government over the terms of the contract.
While workers numerous demonstrations throughout Ciudad Guyana to protest the government’s stance on the negotiations, key figures in the government – including National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro – characterized the protests as part of a larger attempt by “mafias” to create chaos within the factory and the region.
Last Thursday, Information Minister Delcy Rodríguez and Sidor Workers’ Trade Union (Sutiss) Secretary José Meléndez announced the agreement of a new collective workers’ contract which included a salary increase and retroactive pay for the time spent in negotiations. Since the last contract expired in 2010, workers had complained of a reduced wage value due to inflation.
Other Sutiss members, however, rejected the contract on grounds that negotiations excluded key representatives and lacked collective approval through a workers’ assembly.
Regarding these tensions, Cabello noted that “the guarimba [a term also used to characterize opposition protests earlier in the year] failed here like it failed in the rest of the country. Sidor is not even going to stop. Sidor should be a spearhead in the industry, and for the benefit of all Venezuelans.”
Read more here: http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10851
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But before the dispute was resolved, this had to happen:
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14 Arrested and Two Injured in Confrontations between Sidor Workers and Venezuelan National Guard
By SASCHA BERCOVITCH
Caracas, August 12th 2014 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Clashes between protesting workers at the state-owned steel plant Sidor and the Venezuelan National Guard on Monday in the southeastern city of Guyana ended with at least 14 arrests and two injuries, according to multiple sources.
The protest, focusing on continued delays in the negotiation of a collective workers’ contract with the state entity which runs the factory, began at 7 a.m. yesterday when workers gathered in the plant and decided to march to Guyana Avenue, the city’s main access road.
Before they could arrive, local media reported, the National Guard intercepted the demonstration with pellets and tear gas, inciting the conflict which led to the arrests and injuries.
According to a press release from the leftist Socialist Tide (Marea Socialista) organization, the National Guard had also stationed six tanks within the factory, in the area where company buses normally arrive to drop off workers. On Monday Sidor did not send out buses, which workers involved in the protests considered was an effort to avoid further unrest, though many workers found other means of transportation to arrive and participate.
Tensions between Sidor workers and the national government have escalated in recent weeks, particularly after both National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro criticized the protests, which have on occasion blocked roads in the city, as beholden to union “mafias” and part of a larger attempt to destabilize the factory and region.
There has also been a dispute about who is responsible for falling productivity at the plant. Workers blame company management for “inefficiency” and “bureaucracy”, while the government accuses union “mafias” of being responsible.
Read more at: http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10839
So now, the plant is finally back in running. The real question is why did the Washington Post posted this story anyway and not followed up before actually posting it? I'll give you one theory, if they did last-minute research on the situation and made a update story on the dispute, it will break the narrative on Venezuela on being a country full of economic woe.
For a person who wants to push and enforce a narrative there is one rule in writing a media narrative: Never write anything that contradicts that narrative.
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