Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05CARACAS509
2005-02-15 15:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

UNION LEADERS DIVIDE WHILE WORKER DISCONTENT GROWS

Tags:  ELAB PGOV KDEM PHUM VE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000509 

SIPDIS

NSC FOR CBARTON AND TSHANNON
HQ USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2015
TAGS: ELAB PGOV KDEM PHUM VE
SUBJECT: UNION LEADERS DIVIDE WHILE WORKER DISCONTENT GROWS

REF: 04 CARACAS 03164

Classified By: A/DCM Abelardo A. Arias for Reason 1.4(b).

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000509

SIPDIS

NSC FOR CBARTON AND TSHANNON
HQ USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2015
TAGS: ELAB PGOV KDEM PHUM VE
SUBJECT: UNION LEADERS DIVIDE WHILE WORKER DISCONTENT GROWS

REF: 04 CARACAS 03164

Classified By: A/DCM Abelardo A. Arias for Reason 1.4(b).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) Senior leaders of Venezuela's two principal labor
confederations -- one pro-Chavez, the other in opposition --
are gridlocked over upcoming elections in their respective
organizations. The traditional Venezuelan Workers
Confederation (CTV) is split over whether to roll back a
reform for the direct election of its leaders. The National
Workers' Union (UNT),a GOV supporter, is fractured over a
proposal to invite every formal worker, regardless of union
membership, to participate in its election. While the debate
continues, senior labor leaders appear to be unable or
unwilling to shift from older models of achieving and
maintaining power through political party alliances to
responding to their members on issues. End summary.

--------------
CTV Considers Return To Indirect Elections
--------------


2. (C) The Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV),
Venezuela's oldest labor confederation, had tried to move up
its 2005 elections to coincide with those at the union and
federation level, which typically draw more worker interest
(ref). According to various labor leaders, the differences
of opinion are such that the CTV elections will have to be
held at their regularly scheduled time at the end of the
year. The CTV's executive committee has been bogged down in
proposals for different election scenarios. Manuel Cova, the
CTV's secretary general and acting president in the absence
of exiled strike leader Carlos Ortega, advocates a return to
the traditional model of electing confederation leaders by a
vote of the boards of CTV's 850 affiliates. Others are
calling for an open vote of CTV's one million members.


3. (C) The National Electoral Council (CNE),empowered by the
constitution to oversee union elections, issued new
regulations for union elections in December 2004. Jesus
Urbieta, head of CTV's labor studies institute and member of
the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Administrative

Committee, said the new rules, if followed, would "destroy
the CTV." Among his objections, Urbieta highlighted the
requirement to provide the CNE with names of all affiliated
CTV workers, which he said could be used by the GOV to harass
them as happened with persons who signed to recall President
Hugo Chavez. Urbieta said that while the CTV executive
council is prepared to flout the CNE's oversight, it has
nevertheless recommended that their unions and federations
abide by the new rules. At the local and federation level,
Urbieta explained, unions run the risk of losing their legal
identity if elections are not certified, which would impede
vital union functions such as collective bargaining. Urbieta
said the CTV plans to contest the CNE requirement in March at
the ILO, which had already determined that the laws upon
which the new rules are written violate ILO Convention 87 on
freedom of association.

--------------
UNT Faction Seeks Open Elections
--------------


4. (C) The pro-Chavez National Workers' Union (UNT) has
survived for two years with a cumbersome executive committee
and no president. Major factions within the UNT were hoping
to hold elections early in 2005, but disputes among UNT's
principal factions have slowed progress. Franklin Rondon,
UNT national coordinator and leader of the GOV-aligned
federal workers federation, publicly proposed that every
worker registered in social security, regardless of union
affiliation, be included in the UNT election. Rondon told
poloff February 9 that opening the election up to some 4.5
million workers would make the new UNT president the second
most popularly elected official in Venezuela, after President
Chavez. (Rondon, a former Christian Democrat (COPEI) member
of the CTV's executive council, said his faction is
supporting popular Bolivar State union leader Ramon Machuca
for presidency of the UNT.) UNT rival Orlando Chirino
publicly questioned the responsibility of Rondon's proposal,
saying that labor collectives are built by enlisting member
unions, not by having millions of workers participate in
elections. Rondon ally Francisco Torrealba told poloff
February 9 his group also fears manipulation by Minister of
Labor Maria Cristina Iglesias, who favors the Chirino faction
over that of Rondon, Torrealba, and Machuca.

--------------
The Future Depends On The Base
--------------


5. (C) CTV and UNT leaders agree that the GOV has done little
to improve conditions for workers because organized labor has
been weakened. The CTV's Urbieta asserted that the GOV's
half-hearted policy of pushing parallel unions under the UNT
only serves to weaken labor's overall strength vis-a-vis
government and management. Torrealba said the GOV also
undercuts unions by promoting the establishment of
cooperatives -- groups of informal workers who win contracts
in the public sector for services such as trash collection,
maintenance, and uniform manufacturing. Antonio Suarez, head
of the CTV's public sector federation and leader of a small
coalition of young union leaders, predicted that without a
renewal in CTV leadership, the CTV will continue to decline
in political and social relevancy. Both Suarez and Rondon
reported that union leaders from the opposing side have
started attending each others' workplace meetings. Suarez
said the message was clear: unions need to forget politics
and unite around issues.

--------------
What Chavez Wants From Labor
--------------


6. (C) Urbieta pointed out that Chavez's revolutionary
rhetoric is virtually silent on organized labor. Several
labor leaders stated that Chavez opposes strong labor
movements because they are a threat to his so-called
civil-military model of governance. Rondon, whose movement
supports the GOV despite advocating for union independence,
admitted that his position has drawn criticism from radical
Chavez supporters and that he has been frozen out of
negotiations with the Ministry of Labor on union issues. He
said his movement has "become a headache" for hard core
Chavez supporters. For these reasons, Rondon asserted, he
has been attacked as a corrupt union boss by some pro-Chavez
media outlets. Looking ahead, Rondon hopes to present his
own pro-labor candidates for National Assembly elections in
December and, one day, to form a labor-based political party.


--------------
Comment
--------------


7. (C) Unions are on the hot seat to prove their relevancy to
their members. The CTV leadership appears to be unprepared
to undertake the fundamental changes needed to recapture its
worker base, chief among them weaning the organization off
its reliance on political parties and re-focusing it on
issues that affect workers. The GOV is also exacerbating the
CTV's dilemma by granting access to favored UNT unions in
contract negotiations. The UNT, however, has its own
identity crisis. Most of its leaders are recent CTV
defectors, angry over the CTV's monolithic ways, and still
not elected in their own right. True Chavez supporters do
not trust UNT leaders and are suspicious of a labor agenda
that is not in lockstep with the revolution. Integration of
the CTV and UNT is unlikely, though a common front against
the GOV on select labor issues is a possibility in the
medium-term.

Brownfield