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"University professors held a 24-hour strike in Caracas on Tuesday to demand better pay, denouncing a budget crisis that is jeopardising higher education. Footage shows protesters gathering at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) to demand fair salaries. Some of the signs read slogans such as 'Stop the violation of workers' rights' and 'Dignified salary now', among others. The video also shows empty hallways, classrooms and deserted university buildings. "We are in a 24-hour strike of the university sector. This is due to the enormous and acute salary crisis facing the sector. Salaries in the university sector, from a worker to a professor of the highest rank with a completed doctorate, range from 20 cents to one dollar. That, effectively, is not a salary. " Jose Gregorio, President of the UCV professors' association, said. Another protesting professor, Luis Torrealba explained that the bonuses provided by the Venezuelan government are not taken into account when calculating social benefits, or when a worker retires or goes on vacation leave. "We will escalate the conflict. In the university sector, escalation means mobilising, agitating, and denouncing what we are experiencing. We do not rule out any actions we may take," Luis Crespo, an economics professor, added. This protest follows the government's approval of a 'professional and academic recognition' bonus on April 30, which excluded more than 100,000 university workers, a move they consider arbitrary."
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