Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06NAIROBI2348
2006-05-30 03:11:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Nairobi
Cable title:  

COTU Convention Generates Plenty of Public

Tags:  ELAB EINV ECON ETRD PHUM KE 
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VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNR #2348/01 1500311
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 300311Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2035
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 3934
UNCLAS NAIROBI 002348 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR AF/E, AF/RSA, EB/TPP/MTA, AND DRL/IL
DEPT ALSO PASS TO USTR FOR BILL JACKSON
DEPT ALSO PASS TO LABOR FOR ROB SHEPERD AND JIM SHEA
GENEVA FOR JOHN CHAMBERLIN

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EINV ECON ETRD PHUM KE
SUBJECT: COTU Convention Generates Plenty of Public
Posturing


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. FOR USG USE ONLY.

UNCLAS NAIROBI 002348

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR AF/E, AF/RSA, EB/TPP/MTA, AND DRL/IL
DEPT ALSO PASS TO USTR FOR BILL JACKSON
DEPT ALSO PASS TO LABOR FOR ROB SHEPERD AND JIM SHEA
GENEVA FOR JOHN CHAMBERLIN

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EINV ECON ETRD PHUM KE
SUBJECT: COTU Convention Generates Plenty of Public
Posturing


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. FOR USG USE ONLY.


1. (SBU) Summary: The Central Organization of Trade Unions
- Kenya (COTU) election convention was unusually calm and
well-organized, partially because there was no challenger
to Secretary General Francis Atwoli and his Executive
Board. Presidential contender and local hero MP Raila
Odinga delivered a pro-market message not normally welcomed
by unions, but he nonetheless received a big ovation and
was characterized as the opposition leader most supportive
of labor. Labor Minister Kulundu and Justice Minister
Martha Karua endorsed Atwoli and used the opportunity to
spout populist and anti-business themes. While their
remarks pleased the union leaders and generated headlines,
they probably do not constitute a shift in GOK economic
policy. End Summary.


Once Every Five Years, Labor Votes
--------------


2. (SBU) COTU invited the Regional Labor Attache to attend
and address the May 20, 2006 election convention held at
Tom Mboya Labor College in Kisumu, Kenya. Kenyan labor law
requires all unions and the Federation to hold elections
every five years. Although the Registrar of Trade Unions
set a September deadline, Atwoli ordered all COTU-member
unions to hold their elections before May 20 so that the
COTU delegation to the June ILO Conference in Geneva would
have a fresh mandate. COTU SG Atwoli had worked to ensure
he and his Executive Board faced no challengers, but he
still invited a strong lineup of regional African labor
leaders to extol his work over the last five years and
endorse his run for another term. Participants told Labor
Attache this Convention was much calmer and better
organized than previous ones because Atwoli had
orchestrated it so well.

Atwoli Runs Hard for Another Term
--------------


3. (U) In his speech, Atwoli welcomed the democratic space
provided by the NARC Administration and its sympathy for

labor, as demonstrated by President Kibaki's participation
in May 1 labor day events. Atwoli stressed that workers
are a key element to economic growth and development. He
claimed to have restored local, regional and international
respect for COTU by restructuring the organization,
revitalizing membership and commitment, remaining
independent, respecting trilateralism, and speaking out
fearlessly on labor issues. He enumerated his leading role
in labor organizations like ICFTU-AFRO, the Organization of
African Unions, the East African Trade Union Confederation
and the ILO. He boasted of his freedom to comment on any
issue affecting workers, and pledged to sacrifice his life
if necessary. Atwoli openly acknowledged that his Board
members and advisors are tribally balanced to ensure
representation of views.

Opposition Leader Odinga Supports Open Economy
-------------- -


4. (U) Orange Democratic Movement opposition leader and
presidential contender Raila Odinga got a big ovation when
Atwoli characterized him as the opposition leader most
supportive of labor. Odinga commended labor's commitment
to democracy, welcomed COTU's opposition to the draft
Constitution in the November referendum, and claimed Kenya
could do better than the NARC Administration. He said that
unions remain relevant in the globalized economy, but need
to focus attention on increasing productivity and
attracting investment to create more jobs. Workers and
producers both face high costs of living and production,
and should cooperate to reduce both. Odinga recommended
open markets, raising standards for quality, and
diversifying the economy as ways to attract both local and
foreign investment, grow the economy and fight poverty. He
called for unions to think outside the box, educate and
train members, focus on new economy sectors like ICT and e-
commerce, and seek agents of change. Minister of State for
Public Service Moses Akaranga made similar market-oriented
points, stressing the importance of reforming the public
service and providing in-service training to expose them to
modern industrial relations.


Ministers Pledge Support for Workers
--------------


5. (U) In their speeches, Labor and Human Resource
Development Minister Newton Kulundu, and Justice and
Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua, extolled
Atwoli's performance in Kenya. They noted the peaceful
industrial relations, his cooperation with the NARC
government, and his willingness to criticize government
agencies, parastatals and private companies to stand up for
workers' interests. Both pledged the government's
commitment to passing the five labor reform bills. Kulundu
said he had delayed presenting the labor reform laws to the
Cabinet because they did not provide deterrent penalties
for violations. He promised to work with Justice Minister
Karua to revise the bills and then submit them to
Parliament, to which Karua concurred. Kulundu committed to
improving workers' access to redress by posting Industrial
Court Judges in provincial locations, to fighting child
labor, and to improving the performance of the National
Social Security Foundation.


6. (U) Justice Minister Karua congratulated Kenya's labor
unions for holding democratic elections and addressing
conditions of employment and social issues that affect
their members. She acknowledged that working conditions
were still sub-standard, especially in the Export
Processing Zones (EPZ) and agriculture. Karua pled the
government was doing the best it could, and pledged to
respond to workers issues. She called on unions to work
with employers and government to raise and address issues.
However, she also warned that investors must strike a
balance between profits and paying a salary sufficient to
prevent degradation, poor living conditions and bad health
for workers.

Ministers Posture for Unions and Press
--------------


7. (U) Echoing the May Day speeches by President Kibaki and
Francis Atwoli, Akaranga and Kulundu criticized tea
plantation owners for expanding the use of mechanical tea
picking machines to replace workers. Kulundu said he and
the President had warned the tea plantation owners it was
unacceptable for them to use mechanical pickers to replace
70,000 workers. "We cannot see workers enslaved by foreign
companies who have a social responsibility to keep
workers... If the companies threaten to leave, we will
find another use for this Kenyan land." Karua called for
the unions to demand respect for workers, end impunity for
investors, and report insults to "indigenous Kenyans." She
concluded by claiming that development partners' only goals
were to obtain export markets and access to cheap labor in
the EPZs, and that Kenya had to stand up for itself and
bargain harder to develop fully.

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


8. (SBU) Kenyan unions are not known for their transparency
and democracy, but most of the union elections were
contested. Union leaders report there was significant
turnover among the leadership at the branch level, and
challengers defeated some incumbent national union leaders.
Atwoli, however, had worked energetically to convince union
officials that he and his team were doing a good job and
were the best available. Some factions of trade unions may
file protests against the COTU election with the Registrar
of Trade Unions, but they seem unlikely to overturn the
results and require a new election.


9. (SBU) Atwoli has maintained good relations with
President Kibaki and the NARC government by avoiding
strikes and industrial tensions, praising the government's
support for democracy, and minimizing the Anglo-Leasing
mega-corruption scandal as partisan politics. However, he
sided with the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)
in opposing the government's draft Constitution because it
would have required labor's candidates for appointed
positions to run as candidates for a registered party,
rather than as a unified labor slate. Atwoli has emotively
criticized parastatals for plans to cut back workforce, and
foreign firms for mistreating Kenyan workers. However,

some argue he sides too often with employers to ignore
worker complaints, perhaps benefiting financially. When
NGOs, some led by former COTU or union officials, led
initiatives to highlight problematic working conditions,
such as sexual harassment on flower farms, Atwoli objected,
clearly resenting the implied criticism of his failure to
address the issue.


9. (SBU) The Ministers' and MP's comments about the
importance of economic productivity, investment and
developing human resources contrasted oddly with their
flagrant posturing for the labor audience on the threat
posed by foreign firms, with their mechanized tea pickers
and alleged verbal abuse of workers. The threats against
investors got the headlines, but they do not appear to
indicate any change in Kenya's economic or investment
policies. However, Minister Karua's call for Kenya to
stand up to donor conditionality does appear to be part of
a developing GOK attitude of defiance towards Western
donors. END COMMENT.

BELLAMY