ZCTU LEADERSHIP GATHERING CONSENSUS FOR MASS ACTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 002726

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER
LONDON FOR CGURNEY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER
PARIS FOR NEARY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2007
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM ZI
SUBJECT: ZCTU LEADERSHIP GATHERING CONSENSUS FOR MASS ACTION

REF: HARARE 02620

Classified By: Laboff KRBel for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Our main contact at the Solidarity Center has
confirmed that the leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) are seeking organizational consensus for
support of a mass stayaway to be called on or around December
9 (reftel). According to this contact, the National Council
of the ZCTU met over the weekend to assess whether the time
is appropriate to call for another mass action. In the wake
of stagnant salaries, rampant inflation, plummeting value of
the currency, and increasing worker unease, the ZCTU has
decided that the time is ripe. They have therefore resolved
to urge the regional councils to support the call for a
country-wide stayaway.


2. (C) The major concerns for the ZCTU seem to be adequate
publication of the stayaway and timely communication to
members outside the city centers. The leadership is
painfully aware of the potential consequences of another
failed call for mass action, after the failed stayaway which
they attempted to call immediately after the March
presidential election. The GOZ lost no time in attacking the
ZCTU over that "flop" as an organization which had abandoned
advocacy of worker issues, had lost relevance to the
situation of rank-and-file workers, and had devolved into a
"political" organization. Given that response, and the
increasingly aggressive rhetoric which the GOZ has leveled at
the ZCTU through various channels since, the ZCTU is
determined not to call for mass action unless there is broad,
nation-wide support for the stayaway.


3. (C) As with the previous failed stayaway, broad-based
communication is key. The GOZ has apparently become more
savvy about the relative value of lambasting calls for mass
action in the government-controlled media. While public GOZ
comment against such calls gives the government the
opportunity to threaten potential participants and spread
more vitriol against the ZCTU, failure to publicize a call
for mass action means that many in the outlying areas may not
participate. If (as is the case in many rural areas) the
only mass communication is via the government-controlled
media -- both print and broadcast -- and they do not provide
free publicity for the ZCTU, then the ZCTU's task of
communicating effectively is even more crucial. The ZCTU's
leaders are aware of this, and this seems to be the impetus
behind their caution in throwing support behind the call for
mass action without careful consultation.
SULLIVAN