ZCTU LABOR CONFERENCE LACKS SPARK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000626 SIPDIS SIPDIS AF/S FOR B. NEULING NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE STATE PASS TO USAID FOR M. COPSON AND E.LOKEN TREASURY FOR J. RALYEA AND B. CUSHMAN COMMERCE FOR BECKY ERKUL USDOL FOR ROBERT YOUNG US MISSION GENEVA FOR JOHN CHAMBERLAIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2016 TAGS: ASEC ECON ELAB PGOV PHUM ZI SUBJECT: ZCTU LABOR CONFERENCE LACKS SPARK REF: HARARE 08 Classified By: CDA Eric T. Schultz under Section 1.4 b/d -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) At the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions' (ZCTU) Sixth General Conference in Harare May 19-20, the approximately 300 delegates in attendance reconfirmed most of the ZCTU leadership but took little concrete action to confront the GOZ over its disastrous policies. ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibebe avoided strong criticism SIPDIS of the GOZ. Employers rather than the GOZ got the brunt of delegate ire over falling real wages. For its part, the GOZ prevented several foreign labor observers from entering the country and renewed threats of legal actions against the ZCTU leadership over alleged financial misdeeds. End Summary. -------------- -- Key Leaership Retained, Criticism of GOZ Muted -------------- - ¶2. (U) Te approximately 300 delegates at the ZCTU's silver jubilee meeting voted to renew until 2011 the ter of Lovemore Matombo as president. Wellington Cibebe and Lucia Mativenga retained their positios as secretary general and first vice president. Newly elected were George Nkiwane as second vic president and Thabitha Khumalo as third vice president. ¶3. (SBU) In open sessions attended by emboffs, the conference largely spared the GOZ from major criticism for its disastrous economic policies or its sustained harassment of organized labor. Most public sessions revolved around administrative matters and a painstaking review of the minutes of the previous conference five years ago. Direct criticism of the GOZ was limited to specific immediate grievances, such as the barred entry of some foreign labor observers. To the extent they addressed the country's economic crisis at all, most speakers appeared to blame business rather than the GOZ for the economic woes. ¶4. (SBU) In his address to the Conference, Chibebe avoided strong criticism of the GOZ despite his subsequent public posturing with journalists. He even directed blame for Zimbabwe's misfortune overseas, alleging that International Monetary Fund and World Bank policies had contributed to Zimbabwe's economic decline. Going against the grain, guest speaker Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe Director John Mufukare provoked a hostile reaction from delegates by arguing that the labor movement was focusing too narrowly on wage increases and too little on the need for GOZ policies to support a wealth-generating business environment. ¶5. (C) Ray Majongwe, General Secretary of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and one of Zimbabwe's most visible labor activists, expressed "serious misgivings" about the reconfirmed ZCTU leadership to econoff on May 23. In particular, he lamented the failure of the ZCTU to take a HARARE 00000626 002 OF 002 stronger stance on the GOZ's exclusion of civil servants from the trade union movement. He concluded that "in the spirit of the struggle" the ZCTU should defend its leaders but not tolerate misuse of position. -------------- GOZ Intimidation Continues -------------- ¶6. (SBU) In a transparent effort to undermine the Conference, immigration authorities in the run-up to the meeting deported several foreign trade union officials upon their arrival in Harare and barred Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Secretary General Zwelinzima Vavi from entry. Although the High Court overturned the deportations on May 19, it was too late to accommodate their return to the Conference. ¶7. (SBU) In another instance of GOZ intimidation, ZCTU leadership bolted from a meeting on the evening of May 19 to avoid being served a court order apparently obtained by GOZ-aligned unions to bar certain delegates from the Conference. ZCTU executives announced at the opening of day two that it had obtained a court ruling that set aside the first order and found it to be obtained by fraud. ¶8. (SBU) A mid-level ministry official was among the Conference's guest speakers; he offered an anodyne address and refused to shake Chibebe's hand after Chibebe's speech, which dismissed the legitimacy of the GOZ-supported Zimbabwe Federation of Unions. In addition, the GOZ-controlled Herald newspaper reported on May 22 that the Ministry of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare had finalized its investigation into allegations of ZCTU financial misdeeds (reftel). During the Conference's open session, ZCTU leadership had alluded to some evidence of abuse of position within its executive ranks. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The conflicted ZCTU leadership is largely stuck in a survival mode under continuing GOZ pressure. That said, four-digit inflation is building frustration at the grassroots level that the ZCTU leadership and GOZ may have difficulty controlling down the road. Indeed, the GOZ may later regret having appeared publicly to take labor's side against employers in TNF negotiations over wages -- a posture that may embolden worker action. Its Hobbesian choice between fueling inflation by supporting wage increases and fueling popular unrest by controlling wages will only get worse. For instance, the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) indicated to econoff that it intended to call for a strike of agricultural workers over wages within two weeks (septel). SCHULTZ