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Caracas, February 28, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – A group of trade unions and political organizations protested outside Venezuela’s Labor Ministry headquarters in Caracas on Thursday to urge salary increases and respect for labor rights.

A crowd of around 100 people held banners expressing multiple demands, including pegging wages to a cost-of-living index.

Eduardo Sánchez, president of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) workers’ union, told reporters that it is urgent to adjust wages and protect working-class rights ahead of announced plans to reform the country’s labor law.

“The workers here today demand an increase in their wages, not through bonuses,” he said. “We are also calling for the repeal of the Onapre and 2792 memoranda,” he added, in reference to policies implemented in 2022 and 2018, respectively, which flattened wage scales and froze a number of collective bargaining rights.

Sánchez also denounced a social media campaign “paid for by the business sector” with the purpose of “demonizing” workers’ benefits and social security.

The groups present at the rally delivered a 17-point petition addressed to Labor Minister Eduardo Piñate.

Venezuela’s monthly minimum wage was set at 130 bolívars (BsD) in March 2022 and has not been adjusted since. At the time, 130 BsD amounted to around US $30 at the time, but with the Venezuelan currency’s devaluation, it is now equivalent to $0.31.

In recent years, with the Venezuelan economy heavily battered by US sanctions, the Nicolás Maduro government has prioritized non-wage bonuses as the main income source for workers and pensioners. Public sector employees have a monthly income floor of $160 from a combined $120 economic war bonus and a $40 food bonus. They are paid in bolívars at the official exchange rate.

Public sector retirees and pensioners receive $70 and $50 economic war bonuses, respectively.

Trade unions have denounced the bonus-over-salary policies for being tailored to private sector interests, since they drastically reduce employer obligations, including social security contributions, vacation pay, severance, and other benefits. 

In 2023, a group of Chavista organizations delivered a constitutional appeal before the Venezuelan Supreme Court, arguing that under Venezuelan labor law bonuses must be considered as salaries with all their implications. However, the petition received no answer from the country’s highest judicial body.

Thursday also saw activists and trade unionists hold demonstrations outside regional Labor Ministry offices in 14 Venezuelan states.

Arvilio Hidalgo, secretary general of the CUTEC trade union in Carabobo state, called on the government to “restore the infringed-upon rights of the working class.”

“Our struggle right now is to restore the minimum wage and social security,” he stated. “We are also calling for the release of workers and trade unionists who were arrested for defending labor rights.”

In recent years, trade unions and human rights groups have denounced dozens of arrests of labor leaders, claiming that they were targeted for upholding collective bargaining rights or opposing corruption in the public sector and state-owned companies. Several trade union representatives have been released in past days following the approval of the Amnesty Law.

The labor organizations that rallied on Thursday announced a new protest on March 12.

In recent months, Venezuelan authorities have announced plans to develop a “new labor model” and engaged in consultation processes with pro-government trade unions.

The country’s main business lobby, FEDECÁMARAS, has openly voiced support for an overhaul of labor legislation reform that cuts down on benefits and other employer responsibilities.

One of the core legacies of the Hugo Chávez administration, Venezuela’s Organic Law of Labor and Workers (LOTTT) was hailed as the “most advanced labour law in the world.” The historic 2012 law prohibits unfair dismissal and outsourcing, enshrines the world’s third longest maternity leave, guarantees the right to work for both women and people with disabilities, and extends retirement pensions to all workers, including full-time mothers and the self-employed.

After Nexstar Media Group announced layoffs at KTLA-TV this week, some viewers have expressed shock and dismay over losing several longtime local broadcast journalists at the station.

The cuts included KTLA weatherman Mark Kriski, weathercaster Kacey Montoya, midday anchors Lu Parker and Glen Walker and reporter Ellina Abovian. The layoffs come as Nexstar attempts to cut costs and pursues a merger with rival media company Tegna.

Abovian, who was a general assignment reporter at the station, reflected on the layoffs on social media, saying in a video posted to Threads on Thursday that she was “blindsided,” and that the cuts were “part of corporate restructuring.”

“Corporate layoffs are a part of life and this is just the game of life. They’re impacting people across multiple industries right now, so I’m not the only one, and my situation certainly isn’t unique,” said Abovian, who worked at the station for more than a decade. “But it’s hard to process, considering how it happened.”

Some viewers and fellow journalists have also expressed their disappointment.

CNN anchor Elex Michaelson responded on X, writing, “Mark Kriski is an L.A. broadcasting icon. As a kid, the OG KTLA Morning News crew (Carlos, Barbara, Mark, Sam, Eric, Gayle, etc) inspired me to want to be a journalist. I have great respect for Glen, Lu, Kacey, and Elina as well … all great people … and talented broadcasters.”

Each of the laid-off journalists had been with the station for a number of years. Kriski had been with KTLA since 1991, and Walker sat at the station’s anchor desk since 2010. Parker joined KTLA in 2005.

KTLA morning news anchor Frank Buckley addressed the situation before continuing with the broadcast Thursday.

“As you probably know, we are extremely limited in what we can say,” Buckley said. “But if you are a regular viewer of this program and of this TV station, you also know that we are a family here. We consider you to be part of that family. And when family members experience tough times, we all feel it. So this is a difficult time for us. And we will go through it together.”

SAG-AFTRA, which represents the laid-off journalists, issued a release on Wednesday condemning the cuts. The guild disclosed that it is “actively bargaining with Nexstar stations in multiple markets.” It accused Nexstar of pushing “to gut severance pay and insert onerous provisions into the union contract that limit workers’ ability to freely negotiate the terms of their own employment.”

“By laying off journalists across the country, Nexstar is eroding the resources and talent that local communities rely on for trusted news,” said SAG-AFTRA’s President Sean Astin in the release. “These actions highlight the risks of media consolidation and underscore the urgent need for regulators and the company to prioritize the public interest and the professionals who serve it.”

Nexstar operates 201 stations in 116 local markets in the U.S., reaching 70% of American households. It is the largest TV station ownership group in the U.S. Tegna owns television stations in 51 U.S. markets. Following the pending $6.2-billion merger, the standing company will have 265 stations, representing 80% of U.S. TV households.

President Trump has expressed his support for the deal in a social media post earlier this month.

He wrote, “Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar – Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level. Those that are opposed don’t fully understand how good the concept of this Deal is for them, but they will in the future.”

After the students’ demonstration on February 12, Venezuela’s most important university will again test how open the Rodríguez regime really is by talking about what they don’t want to hear: that chavismo lost the 2024 vote on a landslide, with Delcy running the economy and Jorge managing the campaign, before Maduro to stole the election.

This Saturday, on February 21st, an international event that advocates for amnesty in Venezuela will screen in 20 cities around the world the documentary that tells the story of the civilian mobilization that defended the votes and documented the results, the fraud, the people’s revolt, and the unprecedented crackdown.

In late 2024, Hacha y Machete, an activism network and communications platform composed of a multidisciplinary team of Venezuelan migrants and residents, dedicated itself to preserving the memory of what happened on July 28th and the days and months that followed. Now, it promotes the International Day for Amnesty in Venezuela with the support of organizations such as the Committee for the Liberation of Political Prisoners (CLIPPVE), the Washington Office for Latin America (WOLA), Laboratorio de Paz and Laboratorio Ciudadano, with the message of justice, not impunity. 

The documentary De Macedonia con amor reconstructs the courage of citizens and the consequences of repression. You can watch it here, or you can join the events. In Washington DC there will be a conversation sponsored by George Washington University (GWU) and WOLA, with Betilde Muñoz, director of Access to Rights at the Organization of American States (OAS); Isabella Picón, activist and PhD candidate at GWU; and Laura Dib, Director of the Venezuela Program at WOLA, at 2:00 pm at the Lindner Family Commons, on the sixth floor of the Elliot School of International Affairs (1957 E St, NW).

In Caracas, the screening will take place at FACES, seventh floor, at the Sala de Usos Múltiples (11:00 am). Let’s what happens.

Here’s the other participant cities and the schedule: 

• Mexico City: Cineclub Mar de Lava, Av. Francisco Sosa 298, Coyoacán. (01.00 pm)

• Madrid: Bar Cotorrita, Calle Santa Engracia, 33. (05.00 pm) 

• Barcelona (Spain): Ateneu El Poblet, Carrer de Nàpols, 268-270, Eixample. (6.00 pm)

• Buenos Aires: Casa Sur, Av. Diaz Velez, 4736, CABA. (04.00 pm)

• Bogotá: Diáspora Ideas Migrantes, Calle 58 #19-25 San Luis. (05.00 pm)

• Montevideo: José E. Rodó 2182, Esq. Joaquín Requena. (04.00 pm)

• Santiago de Chile: General Urriola, 624, Salón Gourmet. (06.00 pm)

• Brescia: Oratorio La Pace, Via Della Pace, 10. (08.00 pm) 

• Berlin: Die DeutSCHule, Karl-Marx-Straße 107. (08.00 pm)

• Portland OR: Independent Publishing Resource Center, 318 SE Main St. (03.30 pm)

• Bamberg: Kunigundenruhstr. 8 (Distel). (07.30 pm)

• Valencia (Spain): Jerónima Gales 16. (03.00 pm)

• Basel: La Tienda Latina, Klybeckstrasse 33. (3.00 pm)

• Alicante: Calle Garbinet, 67. (06.00 pm)

• Mar del Plata: San Luis 2745, Proyecto Bar. (04.00 pm)

• Torino: Sala Polivalente, Via G. Giolitti 21. (03.00 pm)