Diario las Américas Newspaper, May 26, 1957, Page 25

blem in three different regions through three separate workers’ education seminars: one in La Cei- ba, another in Sao Pedro Sula aud a third in the capital. The seminar technique seemed Most appropriate for several rea- sons. Presenting the facts for la- bor, management, and the Govern- ment to mull over would be the simplest way to coordinate the edu- cational efforts of all three. Since the aim of a seminar is to give participants a chance to air their views and to hear the opinions of others, we felt that the process could obliterate many of the dif- ficulties between labor and man- agemente. By splitting the seminar into two working groups, we could keep the meetings small enough for everyone to participate actively. Above all, we had to shape the se- minars to the workers’ needs. It seemed clear that our ultimate goal should be fundamental education, technical training, and grooming of union leaders. We must also do what we could to impress company foremen with the firms’ social re- sponsibility toward the country. The participants in the seminar were curious but so skeptical that sometimes the going was tough. At first, management was convinced that we were trying to agitate the workers, One company official, who subsequently gave the seminar staunch support, wondered at the beginning whether “the seminar was going “to turn: the workers against the company.” From force of habit the companies believed that any effort to improve the worker’s standard of living was leftist and therefore dangerous. The workers, on the other hand, feared that the Government was trying to make political capital of their situation. One night there was a knock at the door of my hotel room; it was a worried semi- nar participant who told me the workers were thinking of walking out on the seminar because they wanted to discuss company con- tract violations .I got in touch with one of the labor leaders and asked him to explain to the workers that since the contract now was the law, only the courts could discuss interpretations of the law. We were restricted to defining a collective contract in general terms. When the workers understood the tech- nical reasons, they showed up next day on schedule. Also, it turned out that con- siderable jeatousy prevailed be- tween the workers’ night schools and management’s human-relations schools, mostly because neither was fully informed of what the other was trying to do. But once the seminar got under way, it was heartening to hear the exchange of ideas. Everyone seemed genuinely interested in finding solutions. The discussio nof worker-em- ployer relations was enlivened by dramatic skits on their grievan- ces presented by the workers. The sketches, which made a deep im- pression on the company repre- sentatives, were so original and well done that a repeat. perform- ance was requested for our final session. During the La Ceiba seminar, which took place from December 12 to 16, 1955, we supplemented the discussions with the showing of documentary films and two field trips. One of these took us to a demonstration farm, where we saw new agriculultural-extension tech- niques being introduced by STICA. Some workers learned on the spot how to vaccinate chickens and pick ed up other useful information on seed selection. The second trip took us to El Corozal, about eigh- teen miles outside La Ceiba. This was a community of port work- ers who had helped each other build their own homes, A few months’ after the La Ceiba seminar, investigations were made by experts in housing and public health to render a professional eva- luation of living conditions on the north coast. These uncovered sev- eral hitherto unknown facts. For example, where the company had built latrines, neither the men nor the children were using them. Everywhere the investigators found people suffering from colds ,dy- sentery, fevers, influenza, malaria, and conjunctivitis. In twenty-four labor communities during the first two months of 1956, forty-three children die@ of whooping cough and intestinal ailments. The invest- igators recommended: immediate vaccination for adults and child- ren, expansion of medical services, and the launching of a_health- education campaign. Three Regional Labor Education Services were~atso born of the seminars to inaugurate follow-up programs. In this work, the Hon- duran Government was able to make use at last of specialists who, a few years before, had been train- ed in community organization at the fundamental education center at Patzcuaro, México, sponsored by UNESCO and the OAS. On March 10, 1956, the first team of five set out. In a continuous se- ries of round tables they met with teachers, labor leaders, manage- ment, and workers to discuss all types of problems and their solu- tions. During the next few months, the Service team mobilized the community for action, developing programs for teaching people how to set up cooperatives, training ‘shops, small industry, literacy cam- paigns, and so on. Courses were begun in aduit education; the peo- ple were instructed in nutrition, health, sanitation. Cooking and sewing courses were established for the women. Even soccer teams were organized. Unions, management, and the Government were kept fully in- formed as the program developed. When a shortage of lumber and wiring arose, the companies pitch- ed in with supplies. When the teams needed more chairs for their classes, the people brought them from home. The Standard Fruit Company earmarked $250,- 000 for new housing. The life of the workers began to change. The seminar at San Pedro Sula from January 10 to 14 and the third in Tegucigalpa from June 20 to 24 followed essentially the same pattern as the first at La Cei- ba. Both participants and observers agree that the seminars have start- ed an encouraging trend. Labor leaders preferred to reserve judg- ment until they could see practical benefits accruing from the semi- nars. But they were quick to con- cede their value as a common meeting ground. As one of them wrote in El Imparcial, a Tegucigal- pa daily: “Thanks to the seminars, we have experimented successful- ly with joint meetings of manage- ment and labor”. One of the company foremen who attended the seminars declar- ed that although there was con- siderable misunderstanding, in the end it “gave us a chance to know just what our people are thinking about. Also, it helped bring home to the workers that they often fell down on the job. The company, for example, had organized sanitation brigades among the workers, but they. had failed to keep the com- munities crean, the drainage flow- ing, and the disinfectant sprays in use at reguiar intervals, Finally, the seminar’s emphasis on working and living conditions stimulated our housing program.” John T. Fishburn, a labor advis- er in the U. S. Department § of State, tells me of favorable reports on the seminars received by the Department. Because the labor movement in Honduras is _ still young, he fells that the nonpartis- an, educational approach of the OAS is particutarly valuable to both labor and management. The economic officer of the U. S. Embassy in Teguciglapa sized it up like this: “It seems to me the most telling OAS contribution in Honduras was the way it drama- tized labor’s role in society. Or- ganized labor had never been a factor there before; the OAS semi- Mars made government, manage- ment, and labor realize that here was a newly emerging force with inherent rights and responsibili- ties.” The Ambassador from: Honduras to the United States, Ramén Vi- lleda Morales said the seminars pointed up the need for a coordi- ator who could continue the liaison betwen the government, manage- ment, and labor. Then he put his finger squarely on the prob- lem: “Lack of education -is at the root of our troubles. The Hondur- Venezuela s Highway Network . Now 15,000 Miles The first phase of the highway building program developed by the Government im Venezuela is ex- pected to be completed by the end of this year. Highways were built last year with an aggregate length of 680 miles at a cost of 237 million bo- livares ($71 million). Of this total, 390 miles were federal highways constructed by the Ministry of Public Works and 290 miles by the States. Bridges built for the high- ways numbered 39 with a com- bined span of 6,759 feet, in addi- tion to 20 small bridges, all costing 9.5 million bolivares (close to $3 million). After the roads under construe- tion at the present time are finish- ed the country will be linked with a satisfactory network of paved highways running from east to west and from north to south, for sppeds up to 80 miles an hour. The old and poorly designed roads mostly built by trial-and-error in the 19- 20-30 decade, to serve the needs of isolated localities or of the state at best, have been gradually re placed by an integrated system for cross-country traffic, the cost of which runs into billions of boliva- res. but has provided Venezuela with a 15,000 mile road system. Several highways of nation-wide importance were completed in 19- 56. First of all is the Pan Ameri- can Highway, running for a dis- In the heart of Venezuela’s Calabozo and Puerte Miranda, * This section of the Puerto Cabello-Turiamo highway—25 miles long—has been recently opened to traffic. tance of 550 miles from Caracas to San Antonio del Tachira on the Colombian border. This route is now paved from beginning to end and has been improved with two by-passes to shorten the way — one from Bejuma (Carabobo) to Chivacoa (Yaracuy), a distance of 43 miles to avoid going up to Puerto Cabello, and one from Puente Torres to Arenales (Lara), to keep clear of Carora. With these corrections the total distance has been reduced by 30 miles. Prime advantages of the Pan Ame- tican Highway are a saving of 126 miles as compared with the old Trams-Andean Highway, which was the original road between Caracas and Tachira State, and a reduction in traveling time from two days in the old road to 15 hours in the new. Another project of material sig- nificance is the completion of the last 29 miles of the 150 mile road from Coro (Falcén) to Palmarejo (Zulia), on the eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo, opposite the city of Maracaibo. This will be one of the essential land links between Caracas and Maracaibo after the contemplated bridge over the lake is built. In the same general western area the 166 mile highway from Carora (Lara) to the large oil fields of Lagunillas, also on the eastern shore of the lake, south of Palma- rejo, was opened to traffic with the completion of the last 53 mile stretch, an worker eats poorly — but so| Im the central plains, the 78 mile does the rich man, because he doesn’t known what to eat.” Reprinted by courtesy of VENEZUELA UP TO DATB The 550-mile Jong Pan American Highway from Caracas to cattle country, this road links on the Apure river. highway between Calabozo (Gué- rico) and Puerto Miranda (Apure), was likewise finished. Puerto Mi- tanda, on the Apure river, faces San Fernando, capital of the Gfate, on the southern side of the river, But the longest of the roads in the system is that from Caracas to Santa Elena (Gran Sabana), on the Brazilian border, southeastern Ve- nezuela. The total distance is 746 miles. Actually, this is an exten- sion of the maim Caracas-Ciudad Bolivar highway, and of the road irom the latter point to Upata and El Callao (Bolivar). Construction of the section from El Callao to Gran Sabana was started in 1954, and continued in 1955 to the foot of Gran Sabana. All last year was spent in building the 16 mile sec- tor that climbs 3,200 feet to the top of the Gran Sabana plateau. This was a most difficult engineer- ing feat, as a sheer rock cliff had to be blasted at a pont called “La Escalera” (the Ladder) for build- ing the roadbed. The job is done, however, and now work is going on the final 121 mile section, along comparatively easy ground, to Sta. Elena, with expectations for completion by the end of the year, All that remains to be completed, within the first phase of the high- way building program, is the Gran Sabana road, referred to above; the expressway from Tejerias to Maracay (Aragua), Valencia and Puerto Cabello (Carabobo), now under construction; and the bridge over Lake Maracaibo as an over- land connection of this important port with the eastern part of the country. The second phase will involve eonstruction of better roads to con- nect growing towns, along with the paving and improvement of exist ing routes, f Cristébal, has been paved in its entire length, SUNDAY, MAY 26, 1957 HEMISPHERE PAG. 11