Workers Fight for Justice: The Battle Against Unjustified Dismissals at Alimentos Polar

2023-07-12 01:16:48

SEE / Ildegar Gil

In 2002 Francisco Herrera (50) joined Alimentos Polar. He did it at the plant that the company has in the state of Aragua. This Tuesday, July 11 (almost noon) he showed strong annoyance as was the case with dozens of his colleagues.

After almost four (4) hours of waiting, they had not been received by any representative of the Supreme Court of Justice, TSJ, a body to which they went -as other times- to request that from there the company be forced to abide by the judgment 615 dated November 11, 2021, emanating from the Constitutional Chamber presided over by Lourdes Suárez Anderson, where it is ordered “…the Thirteenth (13th) Court of First Instance of Labor Trial of the Labor Judicial Circuit of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, proceed to THE IMMEDIATE EXECUTION OF THE AMPARO CONSTITUTIONAL, that is, to the reinstatement and immediate restitution of the worker FRANK JOSÉ QUIJADA CARMONA, already identified, in his job, in the same conditions that he had at the time of the illegal dismissal and/or deterioration, as well as the consequent payment of the lost wages and other benefits not received, without further delay and without the establishment by the defendant CERVECERÍA POLAR, CA”. In the aforementioned text, a presentation by the magistrate, Juan José Mendoza Jover, it is stated that the aforementioned court had to inform “… this Chamber of its effective compliance.”

The purpose of the action reached, equally, those who were at his side and around him, chanting slogans and harangues in favor of their demands. He assured that this right also corresponds to them, since the labor courts reasoned in a similar way for the sake of reincorporation to the job suspended eight (8) years ago, a suspension that, as is to be expected, has notably affected the family livelihood. that he was strengthened from his position as a dispatcher.

Francisco Herrera, Aragua state.

As Frank Quijada, president of the Empresas Polar Workers Union, would later say to Daily See: “It is the same cause. We have a final judgment in all courts nationwide.”

Several killed in battle

Quijada explains that it all dates back to April 21, 2016. That day “Lorenzo Mendoza threw 8,000 mothers and fathers out into the streets unjustifiably, (and it is) because we are not a danger to the company and neither for the nation.”

The date places it as the beginning of a legal battle. He emphasizes that the contest already leaves several deaths. And many of those who survive it, he specifies “…are sick. Others have some kind of disability. There are malnourished children and others who have not been able to continue school life.

The political background of the situation emerges in his analysis. It is not by chance that the date of the decision against thousands of women and men occurred shortly after the six (6) month period that Henry Ramos Allup publicly gave himself in January from the presidency of the National Assembly, to overthrow to Nicolas Maduro. It includes both actions in another package, nothing alien to the population: the economic war. He reflects aloud: “If it has been angry for those who are working, imagine for those of us who have gone 8 years without pay.”

Frank Quijada, president of the Union of Workers of Empresas Polar, CA.

the other casualties

He admits that there are those who have “grabbed their money because they have seen themselves in need and fear of starving to death”, but although in some way it is about other casualties in the indicated battle, he states that it is also true that “…those who took that they are already without sustenance ”.

It does not hide its revolutionary condition. It even appeals to the decree of labor immobility in force since 2020. It condemns that Mendoza (the same as “we are at war”) has acted against the Constitution, the Organic Law of Labor, Workers and Workers and the agreements with the International Organization of Labor by “throwing out even the trade unionists. To the CPTT (Productive Councils of Workers and Workers). To the prevention delegates. To women with jurisdiction for being pregnant. To those comrades with pregnant wives”. And he concludes: “There are 8-year-old children who have never seen their mom or dad working.”

Under the midday sun, and before the Security body of the TSJ required the personal data of the security team Daily See, concluded that Lorenzo Mendoza has only one option: abide by the ruling of the law. Otherwise, he argued, they should proceed with his arrest or be a center for the seizure of assets. “The TSJ can do that,” he added.

A couple of hours later, through the telephone spectrum, he informed this portal that a commission was received by the secretaries of the Constitutional and Cassation chambers, where the commitment to continue reviewing the case was reiterated, which, in addition, now shows another unpleasant face: the outsourcing applied by the well-known firm, a practice that, as is public knowledge, is prohibited in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Each case, a tragedy

Gladys García was hired 25 years ago. She worked in the Production area of the Chacao nucleus, Miranda state, and with the product of her efforts she guaranteed a good part of the family protection. She was suddenly added to the list of things that can be dismissed to – from one day to the next – start to depend on nothing. The death of her mother, Luisa Navarro (76), has been the most unfortunate consequence of the critical painting. “I couldn’t give her the help she needed because she no longer had a hospitalization, surgery and maternity policy,” she said.

Gladys Garcia, Chacao, Miranda state.

The feelings of Alfredo Rivas (60) are marked in the family. Being affected by the boss and decreasing his income at home, he saw two (2) of his three (3) daughters leave abroad. He denies that despite accumulating 30 years of experience in the firm, where he served as Packaging Operator II, he has been mistreated by it.

Alfredo Rivas, Zulia state.

From the state of Sucre came María Rojas (54), Production Assistant and Prevention Delegate. She assures that she has been on the payroll for three (3) decades (specifically 31 years), and in addition to the psychological impact that the situation generates on her, she points out that she is a victim of occupational diseases.

Maria Rojas, Sucre state.

Another old man at the plant is Marcial Cedeño (47). For a quarter of a century he has worked at the Sucre state headquarters where, like María Rojas, he was elected Prevention Delegate. He denounces that while in that eastern zone they refuse to abide by the reinstatement dictated by the labor authorities “personnel are hired outsourced, which is prohibited by law.” He affirms that the procedure is supported by those who, in his opinion, are front men for those who make managerial decisions in the protested structure.

Marcial Cedeño, Sucre state.