For Julio Gil, Elvis Carrasquero, José Artega, Nainmelys Torrealba and the rest of their coworkers, it would be a normal night, or at least that’s what they thought. The transport of the company for which they work made its usual stops.
By La Patilla – Pableysa Ostos
Dec 26, 2022
It picked up the personnel who would enter the first shift from 11:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning in “Briquetera de Venezuela” (Briqven) and they were on route to the company. But when they arrived at the Bauxilum roundabout, better known as “La Piña” roundabout in Puerto Ordaz, they collided with a blunt object.
They were only 3.2 kilometers away, that is, less than 6 minutes to get to their work place when they had the accident. The accident left the driver of the vehicle and Briqven workers Julio Gil, Elvis Carrasquero, José Artega and Nainmelys Torrealba injured.
The General Secretary of the “Sutra-Briqueteros” union, Isnaldo Rodríguez, explained that the driver lost control and collided with a pole.
“We are concerned that this type of accident is occurring, knowing what has happened over the weeks in two opportunities in “Ferrominera”, and now us. We urge that the prevention and security delegates to do their job. Production is not everything. We have seen that the company has been negligent, it has deficiencies in security implements and these transport vehicles should have routine checks, not just go in and out,” Rodríguez pointed out.
The union leader recommended that “routine checks should be carried out on every unit and those who manage them protect the worker.” Regarding the aforementioned accident, he pointed out that “the investigation continues to determine if it was a mechanical failure or a human error.”
No Official Reports
But the situation is not new. On November 13th, some workers denounced the death of Julio César Barroso García, 57, who had worked for 34 years in the wagon workshop of the “Ferrominera Orinoco” Railway Management, in Puerto Ordaz, Bolívar State, in southern Venezuela. .
And two days later there was another work accident, registered in the San Isidro de Ferrominera mine. The victim was identified as Aquiles Mosiso, a heavy backhoe operator at the CREG company, which is a Chinese contractor.
Rubén González, coordinator of the Intersectorial de Trabajadores de Guayana (ITG), warned Lapatilla.com that unfortunately in the basic companies of Ciudad Guayana all the workers are performing their labor in unsafe conditions.
“They are not guaranteed the tools, equipment and safety standards in the actions of each of their activities. Supervisors no longer care about the points that are safe work procedures, and apart from this the departments that are in each of these companies, which are safety and accident prevention, do not fulfill their function: they no longer investigate and they do not report any type of accident. They do not supervise what is the conditions they have in each of the work areas. They do not carry out safety inspections, they no longer give induction talks to prepare workers who face risks in different areas, which could cause an accident,” González explained.
According to what was denounced by the union representatives since June 2022, the basic companies of Bolívar State do not report labor accidents that occur in the companies.
This was confirmed on November 15th, 2022 during a meeting with union leaders and prevention delegates from companies affiliated with the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (CVG). The regional director of the National Institute for Occupational Prevention, Health and Safety (Inpsasel), Daniel Alviárez, at the aforementioned meeting admitted that state company presidents are not informing that body about accidents that occur in any of the basic companies in Guyana (Government owned corporations).
“I am in communication with some presidents of the CVG. It is mandatory that they report work accidents, because they are not complying. I emphasize that,” remarked Mr. Alviárez.
The regional director stressed that “we do not have the power to force the CVG to activate the personnel in the contingency plan. These are things that are out of our hands. Unfortunately, the basic companies are overseen by the CVG, we cannot not oversee this.”
Necessary Controls
González maintains that no control is exercised, because their actions are aligned with whatever the presidents of the companies say and, therefore, they (labor safety) are there as a headless department without any real responsibility for the role they must play .
“We also have the “Inpsasel” delegates, who were elected by the workers in each of their areas, so that they would be vigilant of the activities that the workers do, and on that basis they should also report where are the unsafe sites that may cause accidents, the unsafe operations and the drafting of the respective report on what should not be done in some of the operations that are being carried out.”
“But it doesn’t only happen at “Ferrominera Orinoco”. It is happening in all the companies of the CVG holding. This means that the Inpsasel delegates play a fundamental role in terms of safety and accident prevention, but unfortunately it is so that each of these delegates are mostly disabled, because they do not respect their immobility, their legitimacy, and they push them out, deactivated throughout all companies, knowing in advance that they have the legitimacy to carry out their functions while there are no new elections, apart from the fact that they enjoy job tenure, but they do not respect that either,” he explained.
It is not the first time that the leadership denounces the dismissals to which these workers have been exposed, as well as the persecution for denouncing the way in which they are working.
“At Ferrominera Orinoco, they disqualified the union delegates and stripped us of the facilities where we work. That is why these workers are working totally unprotected by their representatives, and all the presidents of these companies receive the guidelines of this outlaw, communist system, a regime of destruction, which has ended peace, benefits and the security of all workers.”
“They have created parallel delegates and unions that only play along with the regime, that maintain that producing is winning, but in the conditions these workers are working, producing is not winning, it is death and destruction. But the workers, due to blackmail, terrorism and the persecution to which they are subjected in the different work areas, are under pressure. And those who do not align themselves with the political orders of the system, are passed to the status of ‘not required’, and that is why many submit and even risk their lives to avoid losing the livelihood for their family,” said the unionist González.
They Request Investigations
On November 14th, a group of employees from “Ferrominera Orinoco” and other industries in Guayana went to the headquarters of the Superior Prosecutor’s Office, with the intention of presenting a document in which they demand to investigate the death of Julio César Barroso García, which to this date remains unanswered.
“Ferrominera has disincorporated workers from some areas, taking them to others and that is a risk. About my deceased coworker, I can say that he belonged to the wagon area. There is a need for maintenance of the areas and mechanical devices that allow the uncoupling of the equipment that was being repaired by him at the time of the accident,” said Ranfis Martínez, colleague and friend Julio César.
They reiterated the same thing that Barroso’s relatives denounced: the workers are working without proper tools or equipment, which obviously puts their lives at risk.
According to statistics managed by the “Venalum” prevention delegate, José Amézquita, so far in 2022, some 85 workers have lost their lives in work accidents in that state company, which shows that none of the basic companies established in Ciudad Guayana escape this serious situation.
“In the writs and letters that we have introduced in different organizations, we warn that we must not wait for a fatal accident to occur, and that was what happened yesterday. And there haven’t been more deaths in the plants by the mercy of God, because the conditions are right for fatal accidents to continue to occur,” the labor leaders added.
The unionists added: “Our compañeros are dying of relentless decline, because they don’t have security equipment, they don’t have transportation, they don’t have the conditions to work. A task that was done by five people is now done by two and maybe three people, because they have evicted many workers off the plant.”
…
Read More: La Patilla – Basic companies in Guyana close the year with a “red balance” due to work accidents
…