Venezuelan trade unions express solidarity with Independent Trade Union activists at Hranit

More than two dozen trade unions in Venezuela have issued a statement to express solidarity with members of the nascent organization of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU) at crushed stone mining company RUVP Hranit.

“For the cause of the international working class` unity and struggle against capitalism! Let’s support Belarusian workers!” the trade unions said in a statement published by Venezuela’s news site aporrea.org this week. “From Venezuela, we are voicing our solidarity with Hranit workers. We support our class fellows who are fighting a battle against the employer over violations of employees’ rights and low wages.”

“We flatly denounce the aggression on the part of the employer, as well as the illegal dismissal of Aleh Stakhayevich and Lyudmila Litvinka! Say `No` to terror practiced by the administration of the plant!”

The Venezuelan trade unions have called on the Belarusian authorities to “immediately recognize all independent trade unions.”

Russia’s Inter-regional Trade Union of Automobile Industry Workers also issued a statement in support of the BITU activists at Hranit during a convention held in St. Petersburg on April 8, said the press office of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions. They called on Russian and international trade union associations to increase pressure on “the authoritarian regime in Belarus" for the purpose of protecting the fundamental rights of workers.

Unhappy with their low wages and the performance of the pro-government Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB), more than 200 Hranit employees reportedly quit the local FTUB chapter in late December 2011 to establish the grass-roots organization of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union. However, the management of Hranit has refused to provide the independent union organization with an office.

In early January, Aleh Stakhayevich, leader of the BITU chapter who was employed as a dump truck driver, was charged by police with violating traffic rules and later had his driver`s license suspended. In mid-February, the management dismissed Mr. Stakhayevich from his job, denying him any opportunity for retraining.

With a staff of 3,000 people, Hranit is the largest employer in Mikashevichy, a city of 14,000 residents in the Brest region.