In Venezuela, workers face job instability, insufficient and precarious wages, exploitation that causes both physical and mental exhaustion, and excessively long working hours that make it impossible to combine work with studies.
The very limited job market means that many young people are unemployed (studies place the youth unemployment rate at over 25%), and on top of that, employers take advantage of young people's lack of information about their labor rights.
The legal minimum wage is insignificant, but with the undeniable need to contribute to the household income, workers have to submit to undignified conditions, engage in informal work or migrate to other countries. Sometimes the social and value crisis leads the most vulnerable young people to crime.
Workers are exposed to labor flexibility, and the violation of labor and social rights has been progressively intensifying over the last ten years.
Training workshops to learn about their labor rights and take action
In 2023-2024, JOC Venezuela conducted a national survey that revealed young people in dependent employment were unaware of their rights.
Several of the JOC Guayana activists are dependent workers (cleaners, vendors, teachers, apprentices) and they decided to initiate training workshops on labor rights in order to acquire the tools to defend those rights and take organized action with other young people.
They mapped out their relationships to identify which of their friends were dependent workers so they could invite them to participate in this process.
They sought support from friendly organizations where former YCW members and other adult partners are involved (Guayana Training Center and the David Hernández Oduber Revolutionary Current) to develop and facilitate the training program on labor rights.
A first stage took place with 16 young people, addressing five topics: contracts, working hours, wages, harassment, and health and safety. During this phase, they were trained in these topics so that they could then co-facilitate workshops with other young people who are working or preparing to enter the world of work.
Higher levels of awareness and denunciation of reality
The initiative is in its early stages and plans are in place to continue it. It aims to enable young people to recognize situations where their rights are being violated in their workplaces and to familiarize them with the protection and reporting mechanisms established by law. It also seeks to promote critical thinking and foster alliances with workers' rights platforms.
It has already generated greater awareness among the young participants, as well as a stronger identity with the working class and a greater willingness to organize.
In the short and medium term, JOC Guayana wants to set up a team of workers from the precarious sector and prepare training and reflection activities on harassment and unfair dismissal with the young people involved.
To raise awareness and denounce the reality, it plans to create a mural and to draft and disseminate a manifesto of the Guayana working youth.
Against all odds, it wants to keep the YCW's work going despite the current political situation in the country.
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