25/03/2010

Venezuela takes part in British union education day

Ever since August of last year, Unite the Union has been holding a series of monthly courses to educate its membership on various issues regarding international labour affairs.

This month the day-event took place in Eastbourne, and a representative from the Venezuelan Embassy in London was invited to speak about ALBA in the workshop entitled “Globalisation in the working place”.

Alvaro Sanchez, counsellor of the Venezuelan Embassy, explained that Latin America, and particularly Venezuela, has challenged neo-liberal and globalisation policies by implementing alternatives models such as ALBA, Petrocaribe and the Bank of the South.

“In the 1990s it looked as if Latin America had no choice but to accept the principles of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, FTAA, which basically called for the opening of its markets and resources to multinational corporations without any regards for labour or environmental issues”, said Sanchez. He also added: “Nonetheless in 2004 Venezuela and Cuba came up with the idea of implementing an alternative to this plan, and they called it ALBA, the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas”.

Sanchez also reflected on the inaccuracies of the mainstream media and its bias against Venezuela.

These courses are aimed at officers and activists of Unite the Union.

Carlos Cruz, Union Learning Organiser of Unite the Union said: “these courses have become very popular among the membership of the union. Workers are learning a great deal about internationalism and solidarity with workers worldwide”.

Press Unit of the Venezuelan Embassy in London

Wednesday 24 March 2010