José Ramón Rivero is a Venezuelan politician. He was the Minister of Work and Social Security from January 2007, replacing Ricardo Dorado, to April 2008. He was replaced by Roberto Manuel Hernández. The decision was related to Rivero's handling of the long-running negotiations between SIDOR

Sidor

Siderúrgica de Orinoco C.A. "Alfredo Maneiro" is the biggest Venezuelan steel corporation. The company is situated in an industrial zone in Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar State, near the Orinoco River. Major iron deposits were found in the area in 1926 and 1947...

's management and its workers. In April 2008 Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...

 acquiesced to the workers' demands and ordered SIDOR to be nationalised, and some days later dismissed Rivero.

Rivero was the leader of the FSBT (the Bolivarian Worker's Force), a current within the Unión Nacional de Trabajadores

Unión Nacional de Trabajadores

The National Workers' Union of Venezuela is a federation of labor unions in Venezuela that was founded in 2003. This union was created by supporters of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to challenge the Workers' Confederation of Venezuela , an anti-Chávez union federation that has strong ties with...

 (UNT) union confederation which had previously existed in the Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela

Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela

The Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela is a federation of labor unions in Venezuela. It has close links to the Democratic Action party....

(CTV). Shortly before his dismissal Rivero publicly backed plans by the FSBT to form a rival union confederation.

External links

• José Ramon Rivero: “In Venezuela, we are going against the tide of neo-liberalism”, 10 August 2007