Venezuela government staff to work two days a week

Full salaries will still be paid despite the two-day week. President Nicolas Maduro had already given most of Venezuela’s 2.8 million state employees Fridays off during April and May to cut down on electricity consumption. For at least two weeks, we are going to have Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays as non-working days for the public sector,” Maduro said on his weekly television program. 

Drought has reduced water levels at Venezuela’s main dam and hydroelectric plant in Guri to near-critical levels. The dam provides for about two-thirds of the nation’s energy needs. Water shortages and electricity cuts have added to the hardships of Venezuela’s 30 million people, already enduring a brutal recession, shortages of basics from milk to medicines, soaring prices, and long lines at shops. 

The government began programmed electricity rationing this week across most of Venezuela, except the capital Caracas, prompting sporadic protests in some cities. Maduro has also changed the clocks so there is half an hour more daylight in the evening, urged women to reduce use of appliances like hairdryers, and ordered malls to provide their own generators. Maduro, 53, who succeeded the late Hugo Chavez in 2013 and is facing an opposition push to remove him through a recall referendum. 

Officials said the El Nino weather phenomenon is responsible for Venezuela’s electricity woes. But critics accuse the government of inadequate investment, corruption, inefficiency and failure to diversify energy sources.