The Industrial Zone of Valencia, capital of Carabobo State, continues to be depressed. The most important industrial park in Venezuela has been paralyzed for almost a decade.
By Correspondent lapatilla.com
Before the advent of “21st century socialism” some 6,000 companies were active in Venezuela’s main industrial park. Currently, 5,400 are closed and of the 600 that still survive most work at only 20% of their installed capacity.
According to the General Secretary of the Federation of Workers of Carabobo (Fetracarabobo), Jhonny Magdaleno, the debacle began in 2014, when the first signs of the economic crisis appeared: the automotive sector warned of a severe drop in the number of vehicles assembled.
For Magdaleno, the automotive sector was an important economic nucleus for Valencia’s industrial zone, since the auto parts companies depended on this and economic activity also made the food and pharmaceutical industries grow.
With the stoppage of Ford, General Motors and FCA (former Chrysler de Venezuela), companies producing rubber, spare parts and paint were sank into nothingness.
“Ford Motor Co. is a graveyard, currently it maintains employees only in the spare parts area. The automotive industry was so thriving that it used to bring in imported labor,” said Magdaleno.
Buried automotive sector
The statements by the General Secretary of Fetracarabobo arose during a tour of Valencia’s Industrial Zone.
Magdaleno was accompanied by Oswaldo Pirona, former secretary of the General Motor’s union, and Francisco Damelio, former secretary of the Ford Motor’s Union.
Pirona, who dedicated 42 years of his life to work at that assembly plant, sadly recalled the boom years, when workers reached their best wage levels, coupled with ample benefit packages.
“It is a pity to recall the General Motors facilities are when in 1968 production began at between 200 and 300 units per day, we were 2,800 workers, in three shifts, and today it is a pity that nothing is produced. What was left was desolation and misery. This number of workers was maintained until 2014. When lay off workers started until only 800 were left. These were liquidated through a phone call. I was in charge of the union until 2009, and then the people who replaced us made disasters,” said Oswaldo Pirona.
On April 20, 2017, General Motors of Venezuela issued a statement to inform that the company decided to cease operations in the country, after the confiscation of its assets by Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
This company was established in Venezuela in 1948 and at the time of its closure it had a distribution network of 79 dealers nationwide.
The company had stopped assembling vehicles in 2015 due to the impossibility of acquiring foreign currency for the purchase of parts and supplies.
For his part, Francisco Damelio, former secretary of the Ford Motor Union, said that the fall that the sector has been suffering is due to mistaken public policies that must be reversed to reactivate the industry.
He noted that when Ford went out of business, approximately 1,400 workers were kicked out.
“There is no sign of reactivation. So there is no way for any investor to come, because it is a risk. There cannot be a reactivation if there is not a policy for economic change,” he said.
Union representatives from Ford Motors de Venezuela assured in July 2018 that they were only going to assemble 206 Eco Sport model vehicles that year.
The company had a production capacity of 35,000 units per year. The last time Ford came close to and surpassed that figure was in 2006 when they assembled 35,876 vehicles.
Less demagogy and more actions
For the general secretary of Fetracarabobo, Jhonny Magdaleno, the reactivation of Valencia’s Industrial Zone must be a focal point for the reactivation of the economy.
In his opinion, the talk of plans should be stopped and concrete actions carried out that will shape the rebirth of the industrial sector in the capital of Carabobo State in central Venezuela.
“Enough demagogy! Reactivation needs to come from political, union and market changes, so that workers have available well paying jobs to meet their needs. The President of the Republic was saying that he was going to reactivate the rubber industry, but it is not only that sector that needs to be reactivated,” he said.
In addition, he indicated that the main thing is to give legal stability to businessmen so that they trust the country again and decide to reactivate their companies.
He also stressed that the worker’s salary must be consistent with the cost of the basic food basket and guarantee their employment benefits.
“The salary of a worker today is 130 bolivars, which is not even 5 U.S. dollars per month. The workers are working without guarantees of contractual benefits because these are not added to their wages. Before, a worker with the payment of his “vacations” (holiday bonus) could furnish his house, today he cannot even buy a fan,” said the General Secretary of Fetracarabobo.
Reactivate the economy
On June 20th, the new president of Fedecámaras Carabobo, Ana Isabel Taboada, indicated that they want to once again turn the Carabobo State into the economic engine of Venezuela.
That is why she assured that they are willing to meet with representatives of different unions and with any (government) spokesperson, with the aim of reaching agreements that benefit the business and productive sector.
Ms. Taboada added that this year they hope to achieve agricultural exports, through the work of the Central Western Economic Block, which involves companies from the states of Falcón, Lara, Portuguesa, Yaracuy, Cojedes, Aragua and Carabobo.
She indicated that for two years they have been holding workshops related to this topic.