Venezuelan Recycling Workers Struggle for Justice

“Once they got their wages, [the workers] occupied the installations and demanded that the company go, then they occupied the offices and demanded that the administration of Sincreba [Merida Waste Incineration and Recycling System] retire”, Simon Rodriguez told Green Left Weekly on the peaceful take-over by its workers of the Solid Waste Processing Plant in Merida in September last year. The take-over was sparked by a series of disputes revolving around the company bosses violation of the law in sacking hundreds of workers and replacing them with subcontractors on much worse conditions. “The company called the police, saying they were kidnapped by the workers, but of course it was the opposite situation — the workers wanted them to go. After some hours [the administration] left … with so many workers [about 100] the police couldn’t do much.” Rodriguez is a leading member of the Colectivo Libre Aquiles Nazoa (CLAN), which has been working with the plant’s employees in building links with other unions, popular collectives and the alternative media in order to promote solidarity with the Sincreba struggle. GLW spoke to him about the situation.