For the last 15 months the workers of the Venenzualan steel works SIDOR have been fighting for a new collective contract and the re-nationalization of the factory. There have been at least eight strikes, multiple demonstrations and a national assembly of solidarity. On 14 March, a demonstration by SIDOR workers was brutally attacked by the national police, leaving more than 50 workers under arrest and more than a dozen injured.

We denounce this repression, an act by Venezuela’s capitalist state (even though the government calls itself “socialist”) to silence the legitimate demands of the workers. The solution to the workers’ problems lies in the expropriation of the multinational corporation Ternium-Sidor, not under the control of the state bureuacracy but under the control of the workers themselves. A victory of the SIDOR workers will inspire workers across Venezuela and Latin America to fight for their interests. Therefore, we say:

• Solidarity with the workers of the SIDOR steel works!
• For the nationalization of SIDOR under workers’ control!
• For socialist revolution in Venezuela and world-wide!

//REVOLUTION – independent youth organization //Revolutionary Socialist Organization – RSO (Austria) //Permanent Revolution – PR (England) //April 1, 2008