NICOLÁS MADURO, a former bus driver and trade-union activist, is fond of styling himself “Venezuela’s first worker-president”. Like his mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chávez, Mr Maduro believes the primary role of the labour movement is to help the regime crush capitalism and install “21st-century socialism”.Employers predictably bemoan the rigidity of the labour market, saying that it cripples business and leaves Venezuela trailing in terms of productivity. But as the country prepares for a visit by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the bosses are not the only ones complaining. Many workers are not happy either.A plethora of ostensibly pro-worker decrees have been passed in recent years, culminating in a 2012 labour law known as the LOTTT. The law includes a virtual ban on dismissals, a shorter working week and improved holiday and maternity benefits. In December Mr Maduro renewed a decree, in force for the past decade, which makes it almost impossible for private firms to fire workers. Under the LOTTT, job security is virtually guaranteed after the first month. The result, employers say, has been absenteeism rates ranging from 15% to 40% of the workforce, depending on the industry and the time of year. Under these circumstances most firms are unsurprisingly reluctant to recruit.Luis Alfredo Araque, who chairs the labour commission of the main employers’...
via The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1f9gZIb
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