Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07CARACAS1011
2007-05-23 18:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

CTV TO WAGE ILO CREDENTIAL FIGHT/PDVSA BEGINS

Tags:  ELAB PHUM PGOV EPET ENGR EINV VE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4506
PP RUEHHM
DE RUEHCV #1011/01 1431859
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231859Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8784
INFO RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0668
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 001011 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

USMISSION GENEVA FOR LABATT (JCHAMBERLIN)
DEPARTMENT PASS TO DRL/ILCSR (GRIGG)
ENERGY FOR ANDREA LOCKWOOD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2017
TAGS: ELAB PHUM PGOV EPET ENGR EINV VE
SUBJECT: CTV TO WAGE ILO CREDENTIAL FIGHT/PDVSA BEGINS
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING NEGOTIATIONS

REF: A. CARACAS 000699

B. CARACAS 000861

C. CARACAS 000968

D. CARACAS 000988

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT DOWNES,
REASON 1.4 (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 001011

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

USMISSION GENEVA FOR LABATT (JCHAMBERLIN)
DEPARTMENT PASS TO DRL/ILCSR (GRIGG)
ENERGY FOR ANDREA LOCKWOOD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2017
TAGS: ELAB PHUM PGOV EPET ENGR EINV VE
SUBJECT: CTV TO WAGE ILO CREDENTIAL FIGHT/PDVSA BEGINS
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING NEGOTIATIONS

REF: A. CARACAS 000699

B. CARACAS 000861

C. CARACAS 000968

D. CARACAS 000988

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT DOWNES,
REASON 1.4 (D)


1. (C) Summary. The opposition-linked Confederation of
Venezuelan Workers (CTV) plans to contest the seating of
leaders of the pro-government National Workers Union (UNT) at
the May 30-June 15 International Labor Conference in Geneva.
CTV Secretary General Manuel Cova, in his capacity as an
international union delegate, will also raise serious
concerns about President Chavez' attacks on union autonomy.
Collective bargaining between the state oil company PDVSA and
oil workers is beginning five months after the workers'
previous contract expired. The BRV appears to have
successfully coerced three pro-Chavez oil worker unions to
merge and should be in a position to virtually impose the
terms of an agreement. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
(BRV) is increasingly demanding that workers accept less and
give more on behalf of President Chavez' "socialist
revolution." End Summary.

--------------
Pro-Chavez Unions To Geneva
--------------


2. (SBU) The BRV pulled the plug on the participation of the
opposition Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) at the
upcoming May 30-June 15 International Labor Conference in
Geneva. Just as CTV Secretary General Manuel Cova had feared
(Ref A),the BRV reneged on a January 25 agreement signed by
representatives of the Ministry of Popular Power for Labor,
representatives of the CTV, as well as the pro-government
National Workers Union (UNT) ratifying a prior agreement that
rotated representation among opposition and pro-government
labor confederations. According to that rotation, the CTV
was supposed to designate the workers' representatives on
Venezuela's delegation to this year's International Labor

Conference. Recently, Labor Minister Jose Ramon Rivero
announced that the UNT, and not the CTV, would field
representatives to Geneva, arguing that the UNT represents
the majority of Venezuelan workers.


3. (C) Froilan Barrios, a member of the CTV's Executive
Committee, told poloff May 18 that the UNT, confident of BRV
support, simply backed out of its commitment to the
previously agreed rotation and is now preparing to send some
30 of its own leaders to Geneva. Barrios noted that Cova
will still attend, as he has for the last five years, as an
international union delegate rather than as a member of the
Venezuelan delegation. The CTV plans to appeal to the
Credentials Committee at the International Labor Conference
to be seated in lieu of the UNT representatives. The CTV is
also planning to try to raise Venezuela as a case for
consideration by the Governing Body's Committee on Freedom of
Association. Poloff has asked to meet with officials at the
Ministry of Popular Power for Labor to hear their
perspective, but they have not responded.


4. (C) Barrios said the CTV will raise three concerns about
union autonomy in Venezuela. First, the CTV will highlight
President Chavez' public remarks attacking union autonomy in
recent speeches (Refs A and B). Second, the CTV will convey
complaints that the BRV is coercing union workers to join
Chavez' single "revolutionary" party, the United Socialist
Party of Venezuela (PSUV) (Ref C). Third, the CTV will
highlight concerns that a draft law to establish "workers'
councils" is a government effort to replace autonomous trade
unions with government-formed and -controlled worker bodies
in virtually all public and private places of employment.
According to a CTV think tank's copy of the draft law,
workers' councils would have many of the same functions as
unions, while at the same time becoming political tools of
the state. With respect to the latter, preventing work
stoppages with "speculative, destabilizing, and political
goals" would be among their responsibilities.

--------------
Trade Unionism In Decline

CARACAS 00001011 002 OF 003


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


5. (C) Reflecting on the CTV's future, Barrios conceded
Venezuela's once powerful labor confederation is struggling
for survival. He estimated the number of active members at
400,000, down from some 1.3 million at the beginning of the
decade. Independent labor analyst Rolando Diaz estimates the
number of dues-paying CTV members at 200,000. Diaz told
poloff May 22 that the pro-Chavez UNT remains deeply divided
and probably has even fewer members than the CTV. Diaz
believes Venezuela's trade union movement is at its weakest
point in modern memory. He noted that even UNT leaders are
alarmed at Chavez' plans to create "workers' councils" that
would assume the normal responsibilities of trade unions.
Barrios reported that while the CTV and UNT do not have an
institutional dialogue, leaders from both confederations have
been in personal contact regarding the growing BRV threat to
union autonomy.

--------------
Oil Workers on the Defensive
--------------


6. (C) Union workers in the petroleum sector have been
working without a new collective bargaining agreement since
January. The BRV reportedly declined to negotiate an
agreement until the three major oil unions merged, while
dangling the promise of a generous deal after the merger.
CTV Executive Committee member Froilan Barrios believes that
if the BRV can force unions to merge, it will also be able to
impose terms of an agreement when it chooses to do so. Local
media reported May 22 that state oil company PDVSA opened
negotiations on a 2007-2009 contract with the recently
created Single Federation of Energy Workers of Venezuela
(Futev),the pro-government fusion of the three biggest
unions in the petroleum sector. Nevertheless, PDVSA may
confront labor difficulties in two areas, according to
Barrios. Contract employees, who have little leverage now
and little to lose, may try to organize job actions.
Moreover, Barrios noted that more and more of the
most-skilled oil workers are starting to leave PDVSA and seek
better economic opportunities abroad.


7. (C) The BRV's taking majority control over all the
strategic associations in the oil-rich Orinoco Belt on May 1
is also having a negative impact on Venezuelan oil workers.
These union employees generally enjoyed better salaries and
benefits when multinational firms had majority control over
the four largest strategic associations. PDVSA cut some
workers salaries by up to 50 percent of their salaries when
PDVSA took over production facilities May 1, according to
Barrios. Workers were also suddenly excluded from company
cafeterias, although PDVSA accommodated the oil workers after
the embarrassing change reached the local media. A PDVSA
contract negotiator also told the media that contractors may
try to fire some 600 workers in the wake of the May 1 change
in control of the strategic associations. As noted in Ref D,
PDVSA is culling politically "suspect" employees from the
associations, just as it did in the joint ventures formed
from the former operating service agreement fields. It has
also told employees that they must migrate to new joint
ventures or face blacklisting.

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


8. (C) President Chavez' "socialist revolution" is
intentionally undermining Venezuela's already weak trade
union movement as well as creating new structures that would
facilitate greater state/party control over workers.
Consistent with his centralized, authoritarian vision, Chavez
is uncomfortable with independent civil society. Chavez
continues to promote a "workers' front" within his new PSUV
party and the creation of "workers' councils" at the expense
of traditional trade unions. And as the BRV asserts greater
control over the economy, including pro-Chavez unions,
including in the energy sector, workers are being asked to
accept less and give more in support of the "revolution."
PDVSA, for example, is reportedly trying to introduce a
provision by which 0.5 percent of oil workers' daily salaries
would go to BRV-controlled social funds to be shared with

CARACAS 00001011 003 OF 003


local communities. Functioning unions associated with the
opposition CTV and pro-Chavez UNT still exist, but they are
out of sync with a government seeking to impose a model of
political control on union workers.

BROWNFIELD