At risk Start of the 2022-2023 School Year in Venezuela.

Greetings to all my dear and appreciated readers of this prestigious platform, after a long break in this platform due to personal matters I am back again with higher expectations, this time I will be addressing a very worrying issue in Venezuela at the present time and that is that due to contractual improvements in the salaries of teachers the start of the new school year in our country is in doubt.

Although the 2021-2022 school year ended a short time ago in Venezuela, the beginning of the new school year is in question due to the fact that teachers throughout the country are fighting for their contractual benefits. Recently, the National Budget Office (ONAPRE) imposed an instruction for the payment of the vacation and recreational bonus for teachers, violating all the clauses of the collective bargaining agreement of said teachers. This instruction also violates the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Labor and Workers Law. On March 22 of this year, President Nicolas Maduro increased the national minimum salary to one hundred and seventy six bolivars (176.00 Bs), which is equivalent to thirty dollars ($30.00) at the present time.

The dissatisfaction of the teaching sector in Venezuela is due to the fact that ONAPRE made the payment of the vacation and recreational bonus with the salary earned by such teachers in December 2021, this being much lower than the one established on March 22 of this year, this undoubtedly had an impact on the amount cancelled, for example, a category VI teacher, which is the highest grade that a teacher can reach and in order to reach that grade the teacher must have a fourth level studies, at least have more than 20 years of service and other aspects and the payment received was six hundred bolivars (600.00 BS) which is equivalent to one hundred and two dollars ($102.00) at the present time.

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This situation has caused this important sector of the country to take to the streets to demand the government to eliminate the instructions with which ONAPRE made the calculation for the payment of the vacation and recreational bonus for teachers and at the same time to pay them what they are entitled to by law. These demands and claims made by the teachers are based on Article 89 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which states textually,

"Work is a social fact and shall enjoy the protection of the State. The law shall provide what is necessary to improve the material, moral and intellectual conditions of the workers. For the fulfillment of this obligation of the State, the following principles are established:

• No law may establish provisions that alter the intangibility and progressiveness of labor rights and benefits. In labor relations, reality prevails over forms or appearances.
• Labor rights cannot be waived. Any action, agreement or covenant that implies the waiver or impairment of these rights is null and void. Transactions and agreements are only possible at the end of the labor relationship, in accordance with the requirements established by law.
• When there are doubts about the application or concurrence of several norms, or in the interpretation of a certain norm, the most favorable to the worker will be applied. The rule adopted shall be applied in its entirety.
• Any measure or act of the employer contrary to this Constitution is null and void and shall have no effect whatsoever.”

There is no doubt that at the present time Venezuelan educators are going through a hard situation since these outrages to which they are being subjected are directly affecting their family group, which forces teachers to take these struggles to the streets for a salary that dignifies the work that for years they have been exercising with great responsibility and dedication. Because of this situation, the teachers are stating that if they are not paid what they are entitled to by law, they will not begin academic activities in the new school year, which is scheduled to begin on September 15 of this year.