DISSIDENT PEMEX WORKERS SEEK TO OVERTURN YEAR OLD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 005720 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL, WHA/MEX, WHA/PPC; USDOL FOR ILAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV PHUM MX SUBJECT: DISSIDENT PEMEX WORKERS SEEK TO OVERTURN YEAR OLD UNION ELECTION -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. A dissident faction of MexicoQs Petroleum Workers Union is trying to overturn the October 2005 re-election of union Secretary General Carlos Romero Deschamps. The re-election of Romero Deschamps means that he will head the Oil WorkersQ Union from 2007-2012. According to the dissidents, Romero DeschampsQ re-election as union Secretary General was in blatant violation of numerous SIPDIS union rules. The dissidentsQ appeals to the Mexican GovernmentQs Labor Secretariat (STPS) to overturn the election have been declined. According to STPS, it has no legal authority to interfere in an internal union matter. The next step for the dissidents is to seek redress from MexicoQs Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Council. At present, it seems unlikely that RomeroQs re-election will be overturned. Nevertheless, this dispute will undoubtedly carry over from the outgoing Fox administration, to the incoming Calderon administration. The situation bears watching given the large US purchases of Mexican petroleum products. End Summary. -------------- An Unusually Early Election -------------- ¶2. In October of 2005, the Executive Committee of MexicoQs Petroleum WorkersQ Union (Sindicato de Trabajadores Petroleros de la Republica Mexicana - STPRM) held an 'Extraordinary Convention' to elect a replacement for union leader Secretary General Carlos Romero Deschamps. An election to replace an outgoing union leader would not normally be an extraordinary event but in this case Romero Deschamps still had over a year in office. Moreover, STPRM rules specifically state that elections for a new Secretary General are to be held in the last three months of the current leaderQs mandate. ¶3. It is unclear what prompted the need for this early election. Conjecture voiced by a dissident faction of the STPRM, known as the National Alliance of Petroleum Workers, claims Romero DeschampsQ early re-election was prompted by the fear of a PRD victory in MexicoQs 2006 presidential campaign. In October 2005, PRD presidential candidate Lopez Obrador looked to be the sure winner in the race to become MexicoQs next president. A PRD presidential win would have given that party the power to confirm the results of the union election. Consequently, according to the dissidents, the union establishment wanted to ensure its continued control of the organization and therefore moved forward the election of the next Secretary General in order to present the GOM with a fait SIPDIS accompli. -------------- Allegations and Irregularities -------------- ¶4. Given that STPRM statues call for the election of a new Secretary General no more than three months before the end SIPDIS of the current union leaderQs term of office it appears strange indeed that an extraordinary convention was called long established and widely accepted syndicate. Romero DeschampsQ re-election was further complicated by his alleged involvement with the 'Pemexgate' scandal in which large amounts of union funds were illegally diverted to the campaign of the PRI political partyQs presidential nominee. STPRM rules state that a person charged with a crime cannot stand for union office and at the time of his re-election a formal warrant had been issued for RomeroQs arrest. (Note: The warrant was never carried out thanks to a legal injunction filed by RomeroQs attorney. The charges against him were not dropped until July of 2006.) ¶5. According to one of Mexico CityQs major daily newspapers, Excelsior, there were a total of eight serious irregularities in Romero DeschampsQ re-election as STPRM Secretary General. A partial list of these irregularities SIPDIS included such things as claiming that the stated purpose of the 'extraordinary convention' was to select replacements for several positions that were vacant at that time. Initially no mention was made of was of a plan to elect a new Secretary General. Excelsior calms that all of the persons allowed to vote at the convention were handpicked friends of Romero. Numerous GOM Secretariat of MEXICO 00005720 002 OF 002 Labor officials were at the convention in violation of ILO convention #87. Romero Deschamps himself presided over the entire process of the convention in which he was re- elected union Secretary General which, from start to finish, was completed in a record three and one half hours. -------------- Labor Secretariat Claims Neutrality -------------- ¶6. Many of the irregularities involved in RomeroQs re- election might well have been dismissed as press speculation except for the fact that Excelsior claims it obtained a copy of the minutes taken at the extraordinary convention. The authenticity of the minutes has not been disputed by the Secretariat of Labor (STPS). Moreover, the Secretariat has gone out of it way to publicly claim its neutrality on the question RomeroQs re-election. STPSQ position on the topic of Romero, to both Excelsior and the dissident oil workers that have asked for the annulment of the Secretary GeneralQs re-election is that the entire matter is an internal union affair. Moreover, a Labor Secretariat spokesman stated, changes to union rules previously enacted by the STPRM allowed the organization to advance the date of RomeroQs re-election. Consequently, the STPS says, it has no legal authority to change the results of these internal rule or the process of electing a new union Secretary General. -------------- - Dissents Not Yet Prepared to Give-up the Fight -------------- - ¶7. The next step for the dissent oil workers is to seek redress from MexicoQs Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Council. Unlike the STSP, the Council does appear to have the legal authority to overturn Romero DeschampsQ re- election. The appeal to the council is being prepared for the dissidents by CEREAL QCentro de Reflexion y Accion Laboral (Center for Reflection and Labor Action). CEREAL is a Mexico City based NGO labor and human rights organization affiliated with Jesuits and the Center for Justice and International Law in Washington, DC. Thus far there is no indication that the Council will rush the dissents case to the top of its agenda which means the matter will not be resolved one way of the other before the December inauguration on recently elected president, Felipe Calderon. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶8. By all accounts the dissidentsQ efforts to oust Carlos Romero Deschamps have been going on almost since his re- election. The Labor Secretariat under outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox has successfully kept the matter at arms-length by claiming it a lack of legal authority to interfere in an internal union matter. That said, the Fox administration tacitly endorsed RomeroQs re-election when it sent two cabinet level Secretaries (Labor and Government) to his swearing-in ceremony. ¶9. At this point it seems unlikely that any branch or agency of the Mexican government will overturn Romero DeschampsQ re-election as the head of the Oil Workers Union. Moreover, outside of the dissidents, most petroleum works seem satisfied with the fact that their union, even with what appears to be some genuine internal problems, still has obtained perhaps the most generous labor contracts in Mexico. ¶10. On the surface all appears well, but there is a history of labor actions in Mexico that have started small and unexpectedly grown larger and more intractable than most observers could have imagined. Although this situation is unlikely to follow that route, it nevertheless bears watching since there is no sure way of knowing what approach the incoming Mexican government administration will take to labor issues. Given the large US purchases of Mexican petroleum products, potential labor unrest in the countryQs oil industry is a subject we need to track. GARZA