Their spin:
The AFL-CIO and Worker Rights in Venezuela The AFL-CIO has maintained a relationship of mutual solidarity with the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV), the national labor central representing more than 90 percent of the organized Venezuelan workforce. Recently, the AFL-CIO has supported the CTV's process of internal democratization and its defense of freedom of association against the attacks of the Chávez government.
From the moment he took office in 1999, Hugo Chávez led an assault on the freedom of association, attempting to weaken or eliminate the principal institutions of Venezuelan civil society, including the unions. His methods included public calls for the "destruction" of the CTV, suspension of collective bargaining in the public sector and the petroleum industry by decree, threats to freeze union bank accounts and formation of a parallel "Bolivarian Workers' Front." Chávez's attack on the CTV culminated in a December 2000 referendum on internal union governance in which all citizens—including nonunion members, such as business people and the military—could vote. The referendum was condemned by the International Labor Organization and by the international trade union movement. In the end, the vast majority of the population abstained from voting.
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http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/globaleconomy/ns04262002.cfmSome other viewpoints:
Concerns Over Possible AFL-CIO Involvement in Venezuela Coup Led to February PicketThroughout the Cold War the AFL-CIO's international work was funded by the U.S. government and served to further the government's goals. The AFL supported "good unions" or tried to undermine "bad unions" based on their enthusiasm for U. S. corporations. It labeled as "not free" or "communist" those unions that challenged U.S. domination of their countries.
When John Sweeney was elected in 1995, the federation seemed to be turning over a new leaf.
But on February 12 the AFL-CIO sponsored, with the National Endowment for Democracy, a closed forum featuring representatives of the CTV. The NED is an organization created by the Reagan administration to "promote democracy" abroad; the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center receives much of its funding from NED. The forum was part of a tour funded by NED, and included meetings with several AFL-CIO leaders. According to one union member who participated in the meetings, the CTV representatives noted that they were here to discuss the chances for a coup in Venezuela.
As President of Venezuela, Chavez infuriated Washington by attempting to restructure the oil industry to achieve greater national control of Venezuelan oil resources, criticizing the Bush administration's war on terrorism, opposing the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and calling for an end to the Cuban embargo. Venezuela is the third most important source of oil for the United States.
http://www.apk2000.dk/netavisen/artikler/verden/2002-na0425-AFL-CIO-Venezuela.htmAFTER FAILED COUP IN VENEZUELA: UNIONISTS QUESTION AFL-CIO ROLEA controversy has landed squarely in the laps of the AFL-CIO hierarchy in Washington, D.C., involving the labor federation's international bureau--the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS). Was ACILS connected with the counter-revolutionary forces that sought to overthrow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his democratically elected government?
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Did the AFL-CIO leaders get caught up in this web of a fascist coup? On Feb. 12, a month before the coup, the AFL- CIO, in collaboration with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)--which is well known for providing a moral- sounding cover for CIA-type activities--sponsored a closed, high-level meeting featuring Venezuelan Labor Federation (CTV) representatives. The CTV leaders had recently participated in a number of lockouts and other activities in collusion with Fedecamaras, the main organization of Venezuela's business oligarchy, and a sector of the military, to shut down the Venezuelan state oil company (PVSA). In retrospect, these activities were a dress rehearsal for the coup.
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Much of this has become public since the fascist coup failed and Chavez was returned to power. The New York Times of April 25, embarrassed by the turn of events, carried a banner headline, "U.S. Bankrolling Is Under Scrutiny for Ties to Chavez Ouster." The article said that "as Mr. Chavez clashed with various business groups, labor and media groups, the endowment stepped up its assistance, quadrupling its budget for Venezuela to more than $877,000." The article mentions that ACILS received $154,377 from NED for its Venezuela project--just part of the reported $4 million a year the NED puts into this AFL-CIO center. Predictably, the Times steered away from covering the larger role the Bush administration played. Its intent was to expose only NED and its link to the AFL-CIO.
Shaken by these revelations, the AFL-CIO decided to issue a statement: "The AFL-CIO and Worker Rights in Venezuela," which can be found on its web page. The thrust of the statement was to strike out wildly against President Chavez.
http://csf.colorado.edu/forums/labor-rap/current-discussion/msg00919.htmlThe AFL-CIO’s role in the Venezuelan coup<snip>
The overthrow of Chavez was prepared over the previous two months by a series of strikes and protests organized by the CTV with the backing of Venezuelan business, culminating in a joint labor-employer general strike on the day of the coup. During the same period, the ACILS had expanded its operations in Venezuela in conjunction with three other “non-governmental organizations,” representing the Democratic and Republican parties and US big business.
All are funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, an agency founded in 1983 by the Reagan administration with the aim of providing a legal framework for operations that had previously been carried out covertly by the CIA. Among the founding directors of the agency were Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s secretary of state and national security adviser, as well as then-AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland and American Federation of Teachers President Albert Shanker, two of the labor bureaucrats with the closest ties to the State Department.
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Previously, the AFL-CIO carried out its operations in Latin America through an outfit known as the American Institute for Free Labor Development, or AIFLD. Through decades of collaboration with the US government, AIFLD became internationally known as the CIA’s “labor front,” dedicated to subverting independent militant unions and provoking “labor” unrest against governments targeted by Washington.
In Guatemala it helped organize a union approved by the United Fruit Company and the military to enforce labor peace on the banana plantations. In Guyana in the early 1960s, the AIFLD instituted a series of strikes and stoked racial tensions between East Indian and Afro-Caribbean workers in order to bring about the overthrow of the nationalist regime of Cheddi Jagan. In Brazil, AIFLD-trained communications workers’ union leaders aided the military in the seizure of power in 1964, and in Chile the AIFLD served as the conduit for CIA funding for professional and managerial employees, as well the truck owners’ “unions” that carried out strikes to cripple the economy and set the stage for the military’s seizure of power in September of 1973.
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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/may2002/vene-m03.shtmlThe corruption is simply astounding.
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