CHAVEZ: WORKERS UNITE - BEHIND ME!

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000861 SIPDIS SIPDIS USMISSION GENEVA FOR LABATT (JCHAMBERLIN) DEPARTMENT PASS TO DRL/ILCSR (GRIGG) E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2017 TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM KDEM VE SUBJECT: CHAVEZ: WORKERS UNITE - BEHIND ME! REF: A. CARACAS 000699 ¶B. CARACAS 000854 Classified By: ACTING POLITICAL COUNSELOR DANIEL LAWTON, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Summary. President Chavez blasted pro-government union leaders in televised April 30 and May 1 speeches and appealed directly to workers to foster unity by joining his new United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Leaders of both the opposition Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) and pro-government National Workers Union (UNT) have publicly criticized Chavez' efforts to form a "workers front" within the PSUV as undermining union autonomy. Insisting that he best represents the working class, the Venezuelan president unilaterally announced an immediate 20 percent minimum wage raise and pledged to reduce the work-week to 36 hours by ¶2010. The CTV and UNT held competing May Day parades, but neither confederation mounted significant shows of public support. Chavez appears determined to either subordinate or extinguish what is left of Venezuela's weak and struggling union movement. End Summary. -------------- - Chavez Criticizes Pro-Government Union Leaders -------------- - ¶2. (SBU) President Chavez, addressing an auditorium full of red-shirted workers the night of April 30, urged pro-government union leaders to set aside their differences and avoid the "vices of the past." He accused these union leaders of "protecting turf" at the expense of "the great Bolivarian and revolutionary unity our people need." While conceding that the first weekend of PSUV inscription suffered from "some problems, mostly technical problems," Chavez once again urged all his supporters to join the PSUV (Ref A). ¶3. (SBU) Chavez also reiterated on April 30 that he has no intention of returning to a tripartite bargaining system with FEDECAMARAS and existing union confederations. Instead, he claimed that his government fully protects the interests of workers on its own. To underscore that message, Chavez unilaterally announced a 20 percent increase in the minimum wage to 614,790 Bolivares a month (USD 286 a month) and his intention to reduce the work week by 2010 from 42 to 36 hours (with a maximum of six hours daily). Chavez also announced that pensions below minimum wage would be raised to the minimum wage and 88,000 persons owed back pension pay since 2006 would be fully compensated. Moreover, he launched a new program to provide 100,000 pension-less senior citizens with pensions pegged at 60 percent of minimum wage. ¶4. (SBU) During his May 1 speech in eastern Venezuela to celebrate the takeover of four Faja heavy-oil strategic associations (Ref B),he indirectly criticized Marcela Maspero, a leader of a faction of the pro-government National Workers Union (UNT). He also accused UNT leaders of promoting the values of the "old trade union movement" while "dressing in red and calling themselves revolutionaries." The Venezuelan president urged his followers to be on guard against such "false leaders," and citing Leon Trotsky, said they would be "left along the road." ¶5. (C) National Assembly Deputy and former UNT leader Francisco Torrealba told A/DCM May 3 that Chavez "gave up" on UNT leaders long ago. Chavez had hoped the UNT would be able to present consensus proposals on behalf of workers as well as "deliver" for Chavez politically, according to Torrealba. Instead, the UNT is bogged down in internal divisions with at least five factions vying for leadership of the pro-government confederation. Torrealba predicted that the UNT would not be able to convoke long-deferred union elections in 2007. Consequently, Chavez would rely on union members and emerging leaders that join the PSUV while appealing to workers over the heads of current labor leaders. -------------- Competing May Day Marches -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Pro-government and opposition unions organized separate -- and peaceful -- May 1 marches in downtown Caracas. The Ministry of Popular Power for Labor sponsored one march and pro-government UNT union leaders grudgingly marched along the same route after objecting to the Ministry CARACAS 00000861 002 OF 002 convoking workers. Orlando Chirinos, the leader of one of the UNT factions, publicly accused the government of trying to "direct the union movement." The UNT's slogan for their march was "Socialism, Unity, and Autonomy." "It's one thing to support certain policies of the government," Chirinos told the media, "and quite another to try to get us to turn ourselves over to (the government)." March organizers blamed the lower turnout this year on the fact that President Chavez and other senior BRV officials did not participate. ¶7. (SBU) The opposition Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) convened a separate, and smaller, march in downtown Caracas. CTV Secretary General Manuel Cova blamed the lower turnout on union workers' fear of government reprisals. Cova said this year's march focused on trade union autonomy in the wake of Chavez' efforts to persuade unions to become a wing of the PSUV subject to party discipline. Cova called Chavez' proposal to create workers' councils just another form of political control. He also added that the CTV is discussing ways to unite Venezuela's labor confederations, including the pro-government ones, to protect the autonomy of the trade union movement. ¶8. (SBU) Both pro-government and opposition union leaders lamented that they had not been consulted by the BRV before Chavez announced the 20 percent increase in the minimum wage and other labor reforms. CTV Secretary General Cova disputed Chavez' contention that the raise would outpace inflation and noted that it did not cover some six million employees in the informal sector. Froilan Barrios lamented that the minimum wage increase was only an "adjustment at the bottom" of the wage scale; the CTV had been publicly lobbying for a 30 percent across-the-board wage increase. UNT leaders publicly welcomed the hike in the minimum wage, although some of its leaders had been seeking an increase of as much as 100 percent. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶9. (C) Increasingly, there appears to be little room for autonomous trade unions in Chavez' "socialist revolution." Chavez clashed with the CTV, long aligned with previous Accion Democratica governments, and tried to undermine Venezuela's largest trade union confederation by setting up the rival UNT. The UNT, however, has been mired in factionalism, and by resisting Chavez' efforts to make unions a subservient "workers front" in his single "revolutionary" party, has fallen further out of favor. Consequently, much in the same way Chavez intends to bypass local elected officials by working directly with community councils, the Venezuelan president appears determined to bypass even pro-government unions with carrots and sticks. Chavez continues to roll out government benefits for low-income employees while making clear his expectation that they join and submit to the political direction of his new PSUV party. BROWNFIELD