LABOR - POTENTIAL KEY TO OPPOSITION UNITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 001495 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CEN SCHIFFER, DRL FOR MAGGIO E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2017 TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM PREL ELAB SUBJECT: LABOR - POTENTIAL KEY TO OPPOSITION UNITY REF: A. MANAGUA 893 ¶B. MANAGUA 1083 ¶C. MANAGUA 1482 Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reasons 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: There is growing unrest and resentment towards President Daniel Ortega among organized labor, sparked by turmoil in the education sector earlier this year. Human rights NGO Nicaraguan Permanent Commission for Human Rights (CPDH) hopes to capitalize on the situation by working with the pro-democracy teachers union to push a pro-human rights agenda with the Ortega government. Simultaneously, several unions, including Nicaragua's largest Liberal labor federation, have approached the Embassy with stories of firings and growing Sandinista pressure. We believe there is an excellent opportunity to harness this unrest by using CPDH as a vehicle to coordinate and focus labor sector opposition and link it to other pro-democracy elements in civil society, thereby expanding and energizing the popular base of democratic opposition. We will work to facilitate, coordinate, and guide CPDH, labor leaders, and civil society organizations. END SUMMARY. Teachers' Strike - The Spark - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (C) There is growing unrest and resentment towards President Daniel Ortega in the organized labor sector, sparked by turmoil in the education sector created earlier this year over wage increase disagreements and fueled by unmerited firings and hostile school take-overs (ref. B). Although the crisis has passed, the education sector continues to simmer. Members of the non-Sandinista United Teachers Union (USM) harbor resentment towards the treatment of their members during the crisis and are fearful that troubles will continue for USM members since Minister of Education Miguel De Castilla only recognizes the Sandinista teachers union (ANDEN). ¶3. (C) In addition to sustaining talks with poloff, USM leadership have reached out to CPDH -- whose executive director, Marcos Carmona, has himself been the target of repeated threats since President Ortega was elected (ref. A). On the heels of his involvement in a cross-sector effort to stage a May 1 march, Carmona now sees the possibility of using the 16,000-member USM as the centerpiece and catalyst for a democratic counter-movement against President Ortega. Others Join In - - - - - - - - ¶4. (C) Although USM's -- a federation of some 21 separate small unions -- recent high profile status makes it a logical rallying point, a number of other unions, both large and small, have recently approached the Embassy asking for assistance. All have complained of unwarranted firings, pressure from superiors, and the growing presence of Sandinista-affiliated unions. Leaders from the Liberal labor federation Permanent Workers' Congress (CPT) reported that hundreds of members, primarily in government institutions have been fired. Pedro Calderon, the president of the ENACAL (Public Water Utility) union -- representing about 2,000 members -- reported that 70 percent of the 280 workers fired over the past five months were union members and that half the union's board has been fired. He also mentioned that the union's contract with a private health clinic had been cut, he assumed, by ENACAL, and that since January four new Sandinista-affiliated unions have been registered in the company. Jose Berrios, president of the tiny private security guard union SINTRESV reported that he had been fired and blacklisted for refusing to affiliate his 200-person union with the Sandinista union federation FNT. Berrios claimed that nearly all the owners of the private security companies -- which represent a work force of some 50,000 security guards -- are current or former high-ranking police or military officials who were members of Ortega's security apparatus during the 1980s. ¶5. (C) Poloff referred CPT, Calderon, and Berrios to Carmona at CPDH to denounce potential labor violations, but also to begin loosely linking disparate unions under one "roof", giving them a single point of contact in Carmona. At this point, CPDH has been focused on USM because of its high profile status, but we will engage with them to continue building on their cross-sectoral experience from the May 1 march, by embracing these and other disenfranchised union groups to add to the USM base. In the case of CPT, the largest democratic union federation in Nicaragua, which is planning its own initiative to achieve Liberal unity (ref. C),coordinating with CPDH's efforts with USM would be essential to establish common objectives. Comment - - - - ¶6. (C) Although labor sector unrest represents a strategic opportunity, it will require careful coordination and guidance to harness and focus the disparate groups under the rubric of a democratic movement. At the broadest level, a unified platform must be developed, linking the various pro-democracy unions to a common vision and set of objectives. Labor-centric in nature, this group must also be coupled with other key civil society actors to make the movement as broad as possible. While this worked on a small scale for the May 1 march -- which brought together CPT, CPDH, the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) party, pro-democracy NGO Movimiento por Nicaragua (MpN) and a small number of other NGOs) -- scaling it into a larger pro-democracy social movement will be a daunting task. ¶7. (C) Nevertheless, our contacts consistently state that Ortega and his inner circle "understand the street" -- meaning that a large popular demonstration may be able to convey discontent with Sandinista actions in a way that media and official opposition have failed to do. We will continue to identify and work with key labor and civil society actors, facilitate dialog, and provide strategic guidance, as possible, to encourage coordination and unity amongst these democratic civil society groups. TRIVELLI