With annual inflation of 189.8% and no salary increases for months, dozens of public workers in Caracas
demanded "freedom and democracy"
on the third day of protests of the year held this Tuesday, when they also reiterated
their request for improvements in salaries
, in their job benefits and in working conditions.
"What we want right now is freedom and democracy and, above all, improvements for our workers," the president of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (FVM), Carmen Teresa Márquez, told EFE at the protest, called to mark the 66th anniversary of
the overthrow of the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez
(1953-1958).
This Tuesday, public workers carry out the third day of protests of the year against "hunger wages."
Photo: EFE
On this "emblematic and very important day for Venezuela," he also demanded that the Government restart the discussion of
collective contracting and improvements in
workers' social security.
For her part, Naucela Gudiño, leader of the College of Nursing Professionals in the Capital District (Caracas), told EFE that, on this "emblematic date", they maintain the fight for the "rights of workers" to protest, to denounce and join "any political party, trade union organization and union association", among others.
The president of the Association of Professors of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), José Gregorio Afonso, denounced that it
has been "almost two years without a salary increase",
and assured that the bonuses provided by the Government, which recently increased one of them from 30 to 60 dollars, have no impact on the calculation of labor benefits such as social benefits.
Minimum wage of 3.6 dollars
The last increase in the monthly minimum wage was decreed in March 2022, which took it to 130 bolivars, today 3.6 dollars at the official exchange rate, while the basic food basket, for a family of five people,
has a cost that exceeds $500
a month, according to independent estimates.
Third day of protests of the year to demand improvements in salaries in Caracas.
Photo: EFE
The workers, according to what Afonso told EFE, also demand that the exact date of the presidential elections
be announced
, scheduled for the second half of the year, and
the opening of the electoral registry abroad,
as well as the "cessation of the judicialization of politics " in the country.
On January 9, public workers began another year of demonstrations against
"hunger wages",
a fight that - unions and unions warn - they plan to intensify.
With information from EFE