All Africa.com quoted Mr Miguel Álvarez president & CEO of Sidor as saying that collective interests are paramount in state companies and they have not changed the by laws in Sidor.

A new debate has opened inside and outside the gates of Venezuelan steelmaker Sidor: the sale of the shares of workers in times of nationalization; while in times of privatization, they were the main luring element.

The change of employer and of corporate vision has led a group of minority partners to rethink their role as shareholders of the steel plant.

Mr Pedro Acuña, a chief director at the board of the company and one of the promoters of the discussion, said that it does not make sense to allow that these papers be held by workers and retired persons, since the government has changed the corporate purpose of the steelmaker, when it converted it into a common public interest entity.

Meanwhile, Mr Álvarez expressed his personal view. He said that "When you have a mercantilist approach, it makes sense that the individuals have shares of the company. However, when you are referring to state enterprise the collective interests are paramount and this has been the criteria of the Venezuelan Comptroller General."

Mr Álvarez said that in his opinion, the cash surplus scheme is perverse. It was a scheme useful for a handful of players, at a given time. And he added that "We have not changed the by laws of Sidor."

(Sourced from http://english.eluniversal.com)