Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06LIMA1099
2006-03-21 18:16:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Lima
Cable title:  

PERU LABOR LEADERS ON LOURDES/HUMALA, FTA, LABOR,S

Tags:  ELAB EINV PGOV PHUM PINS PE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #1099/01 0801816
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211816Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9302
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 3133
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6587
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 9189
RUEHGT/AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA 0967
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR QUITO 0139
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0306
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
UNCLAS LIMA 001099 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

GUATEMALA FOR HR OFFICER TROY FITRELL
STATE PASS TO USDOL FOR MARK MITTELHOUSER, LAURA BUFFO,
TINA MCCARTER
DRL FOR GABRIELLA RIGG

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EINV PGOV PHUM PINS PE
SUBJECT: PERU LABOR LEADERS ON LOURDES/HUMALA, FTA, LABOR,S
WOES

REF: A. LIMA 658


B. 05 LIMA 5192

C. 05 LIMA 3778

D. 04 LIMA 405

--------
Summary:
--------
UNCLAS LIMA 001099

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

GUATEMALA FOR HR OFFICER TROY FITRELL
STATE PASS TO USDOL FOR MARK MITTELHOUSER, LAURA BUFFO,
TINA MCCARTER
DRL FOR GABRIELLA RIGG

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EINV PGOV PHUM PINS PE
SUBJECT: PERU LABOR LEADERS ON LOURDES/HUMALA, FTA, LABOR,S
WOES

REF: A. LIMA 658


B. 05 LIMA 5192

C. 05 LIMA 3778

D. 04 LIMA 405

--------------
Summary:
--------------

1. Peruvian labor leaders reject both candidates Lourdes
Flores Nano and Ollanta Humala as too extreme, a situation
that could create an opportunity for APRA candidate Alan
Garcia were he to take up the cause of the proposed General
Labor Law (Ref C). A labor rep from Arequipa described her
region as solid for Humala. Along with concerns over the
election, labor leaders are anxious about the FTA,
technological change, and divisions within their own
movement. While Peru,s labor movement is undertaking
efforts to organize the informal sector and agricultural
workers in booming agro-export enterprises, big labor has a
long way to go if it is to recover even a portion of its
former place in Peru,s economic and social life. End
Summary.


2. Peruvian labor leaders from a variety of union
federations gathered at the DCM,s residence to discuss
presidential politics, the FTA and the challenges facing
their sector on 2/9 in the third annual Embassy event for
labor leaders (Ref D),which included the participation of
the POL and ECON Sections and Junior Officers from the
Consular Section. Members of three of Peru,s top four labor
federations attended, including representatives of the
General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP,
left-oriented, 1.5-2 million members); the Confederation of
Peruvian Workers (pro-APRA, 300,000 members); and the Unified
Central of Workers of Peru (CUT Peru, social democratic,
50,000 members). Representatives from a variety of
industries were present, including those from the ports,
government employees, educators, telephone company employees,
oil workers, and administrators in the state social security
sector. In addition, both AFL-CIO Solidarity Center Head
Oscar Muro and the President of Peru,s National Agrarian
Confederation also attended.

-------------- ---

Politics: Fear of Extremes/Opportunity for APRA?
-------------- ---


3. Labor leaders in general did not endorse any of the major
candidates. They did voice strong negative opinions,
however. When asked which candidate would be the worst for
organized labor, they responded: Lourdes Flores Nano, the
most conservative candidate running. Lourdes, party of
origin, the Popular Christian Party (PPC),has had historic
conflicts with the labor movement and many labor leaders
consider the PPC,s founder and former Lima Mayor, Luis
Bedoya Reyes, to be anti-labor. (Labor leaders recall an
incident in the early 1980s when the PPC allegedly assisted
the management of the Chromotex textile company in a
confrontation with workers that left 5 dead.) Labor leaders
also consider Lourdes, choice of first Vice President,
Arthur Woodman, a businessman with close ties to the Romero
group, Peru's largest conglomerate, to be an indication of
her inclination to favor business over labor.


4. A number of labor leaders also expressed strong
objections to Ollanta Humala, whom they described as "another
Velasco," a reference to the leftist general who ruled Peru
from 1968-1973. Labor leaders related how Velasco tried to
form his own unions, undercutting them. Moreover, Ollanta
has snubbed the left, including CGTP General Secretary Juan
Jose Gorritti, who is the First Vice Presidential candidate
for the leftist "Broad Front" (Ref B). For representatives
from the social democratically inclined CUT Peru or from the
APRA-aligned CTP, Velasco is not a figure to admire.


5. AFL-CIO Solidarity Center Director Oscar Muro observed
that labor leaders, fear of Lourdes and Ollanta could open

an opportunity for Alan Garcia, particularly if the latter
came out strongly in favor of a draft General Labor Law, an
issue important to Peruvian labor leaders, that is now in
Congress (Ref C). Muro felt that Valentin Paniagua was
actually the best candidate for organized labor, but that his
campaign has never taken off.


6. Garcia pitched a pro-labor message recently when he spoke
at the CGTP's Sixth Annual Conference on Labor in Lima on
2/21. He accused National Unity (UN) candidate Lourdes
Flores of representing "more of the same" in terms of labor
issues. If elected president, Garcia promised to restore
what he said were lost labor rights, beginning with giving
workers the right to move from private pension systems back
into the public one.

--------------
Arequipa Said Solid for Humala
--------------


7. One labor leader broke with the general pattern of
rejecting the two leading candidates on the right and left.
Reyna Isabel Concha, National Women,s Secretary for the
National Federation of Educational Administration Workers
(FENTASE; associated with the CGTP; 25,000 members),said
that she strongly supported Ollanta Humala. Concha, who
hales from Arequipa, asserted &all of Arequipa is for
Humala.8 She added that most of the people she knew had
favorable opinions of both Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez.


8. Concha,s main issue was support for education. She
lamented that the two major problems facing her school are
inadequate nutrition for students and lack of supplies.
Students often arrive at school too tired from hunger to
learn, and the school library cannot afford to purchase books
that cost more than three dollars. Many students, Concha
continued, also do not see the point in studying, since very
little of what is taught is relevant to the job market. In
this connection, she noted the short supply of computers for
classrooms. Concha conceded that economic growth had
benefited Arequipa, but said that she still did not like
Toledo. For her, a vote for Humala was the best vehicle for
her frustrations.


9. Comment: Concha was one of the most personable and
popular of the participants in Embassy,s labor event. Her
observations about Arequipa track with other sources that
report that area strong for Humala, a key part of his "solid
south," a pro-Ollanta Humala base area that also includes
Tacna and Puno (Ref A). Her support for the radical,
anti-system candidate well represents why a portion of the
electorate has taken to him. Ollanta Humala is a vehicle for
the dissatisfactions of many aggrieved groups, in this case a
frustrated school worker, a person who likely hears about
positive macroeconomic growth numbers but has yet to see
those reflected in her daily life or those of the students
with whom she works. End Comment.

-------------- -
Same Sector, Same Federation, Different Unions
-------------- -


10. Concha,s union represents educational workers who are
not teachers, including librarians, labor directors,
teacher,s aides, guards, and other support staff. The
powerful SUTEP teachers union represents teachers. Another
educational administrator present at the event from a similar
union, Fanny Grau, expressed frustration that SUTEP has had
more success in winning raises for teachers than the
administrators unions do for school support staff, who earn
an average of USD 160/month. While the two educational
administrators unions and SUTEP are members of the CGTP, they
do not apparently coordinate activities. When asked about
this seemingly excessive division of unions (one for
teachers, two separate unions for educational support staff
-- one in the north, one in the south -- all of them members
of the same federation),AFL-CIO rep Oscar Muro lamented that

the labor movement has become too fragmented for its own
good, the result of differences between leaders and excessive
regionalism.

--------------
Continued Anxiety Over FTA
--------------


11. Representatives from the pro-APRA CTP, Elias Grijalba
and Eleodoro Sedano, expressed regret that the Embassy had
concluded its cycle of FTA outreach events. In general,
Peruvian labor leaders have been pleased with the gatherings
Embassy put together to explain the FTA, even if they did not
agree with their content. (Note: With the FTA negotiations
concluded and a presidential campaign underway, Embassy is
gauging how best to promote the FTA at this juncture. End
Note.)


12. Marcelino Juan Bustamente Lopez from Ancash,
representing the National Agrarian Confederation, expressed
fears as to small farmers ability to compete in a post-FTA
environment. Bustamante himself is a small farmer, who
raises corn on only 5 hectares. He claimed that his
grandfather had owned 100 hectares, which had become divided
down over the generations, a common problem in rural areas
where small farmers have large families and limited
landholdings.


13. Comment: While Peruvian labor leaders worried about the
FTA, all seemed to accept it as a likely fact of life and
none mentioned the possibility of a referendum, something
that some in the left/labor sectors have advocated publicly.
During Embassy outreach activities, labor leaders have
expressed interest in programs to build up the Ministry of
Labor's inspection capacity, an investment that could make an
FTA more palatable to this nervous sector. End Comment.

-------------- --------------
Big Labor,s Woes: Technology, Outsourcing, More Splits
-------------- --------------


14. Secretary General for the Telephone Workers Union
(Sindicato de Telefonica, CGTP),Luis Lopez Chau described
how privatization and technological change had altered labor
relations in his industry. The state Peruvian Telephone
Company was privatized in 1994 when it was sold off to the
Spanish firm, Telefonica. Since that time, the union,s
numbers have fallen from 12,000 to 3,000 due to automation
and outsourcing.


15. At the same time, Oscar Muro estimated that the
telephone company,s total work force has actually increased
to 18,000. These workers are hired by a number of companies,
since Telefonica outsources many of the tasks associated with
telecommunications (line maintenance and repair,
installation, etc.) and these companies, in turn, sometimes
hire temporary workers to complete needed tasks. Adding to
labor,s troubles, the remaining 3,000 union workers in
Telefonica are now represented by two organizations: Lopez
Chau,s CGTP-affiliated group and another associated with the
CUT. (Note: Peruvians report that telephone service has
improved dramatically with privatization, greatly reducing
waiting times for acquiring private phones and giving
customers far better connections. End Note.)


16. Luis Caceres Cervantes of the Union of Social Security
Workers (in the public sector) told a similar story, stating
that his union had gone from 25,000 members in the
pre-Fujimori era to 12,000 today. (Note: Other sources in
the labor movement have told us that the social security
sector had functioned as a patronage machine prior to
Fujimori-era changes. End Note.)


17. Jose Pingo of the Petroleum Workers Union (FETRAPEP )
ISP of Piura, independent) regretted that his union could not
do more for workers than simply ask for wage increases. He
stated that the average petroleum worker in Iquitos labors

for 14 days straight, 12 hours per day and then has ten days
off. For this the employee earns about USD 600 per month.
(Note: This is a sum considerably higher than the monthly
minimum wage of USD 145. End Note.)

-------------- -
Attempts to Organize the Informals, Ag Workers
-------------- -


18. CUT President Julio Bazan spoke of his union,s attempt
to organize the informal sector. Small businesses, he says,
have collective needs (credit, licensing, security) that
unions could help them address. One problem with CUT,s
efforts in this area so far, however, is the fact that
newly-organized informal sector members do not pay union
dues, forcing the existing worker base to subsidize outreach.
CGTP General Secretary Juan Jose Gorritti recently told
Poloff his federation is attempting to organize agricultural
workers in the booming agro-export complexes for asparagus in
Ica. Gorritti claimed that the agricultural workers needed a
union because their wages are low. He conceded, however,
that union building among them was an uphill struggle.

--------------
Comment:
--------------


19. Peruvian organized labor suffers from many woes, some
external, brought on by globalization and economic change,
some internal, the product of division in its own ranks.
Labor leaders, rejection of extremes (and Humala,s
rejection of the labor-left) could make them targets of
opportunity for Alan Garcia. While labor membership has
shrunk to only 5 percent of the work force, the major labor
confederations can still mobilize large demonstrations and
could provide foot soldiers for a candidate willing to
support the new draft labor law, now in Congress. Longer
term, labor leaders need to minimize division in their own
ranks and to reach out to new population groups -- in the
informal and in the growing agro-export sectors -- if their
organizations are to recuperate even a measure of their
former weight in Peru,s economy and society.
STRUBLE