Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MEXICO1358
2007-03-16 21:34:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Mexico
Cable title:  

PRESIDENT CALDERON ALL BUT EMBRACES OPPOSITON

Tags:  ELAB ECON PGOV SOCI PINR MX 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8200
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHM RUEHHO RUEHJO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHPOD
RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #1358/01 0752134
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 162134Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5870
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 001358

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILCSR, WHA/MEX AND PPC, USDOL FOR ILAB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV SOCI PINR MX
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT CALDERON ALL BUT EMBRACES OPPOSITON
LABOR CONFEDERATION AS OFFICIAL UNION

REF: (A) 06 MEXICO 5528 (B) 06 MEXICO 7042

(1. Summary: For most of the history of modern Mexico the
CTM, (Confederation of Mexican Workers) the country,s
largest association of labor unions, was formally tied to one
political party. Officially the CTM is still a part of that
party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI),which
governed Mexico for most of the past 70 years. Now however,
after the PRI,s second consecutive loss of a president
election, the CTM has moved to establish a close working
relationship with the PAN (National Action Party) government
of Mexican President, Felipe Calderon. On February 24, the
CTM invited President Calderon to address the representatives
of the labor confederation as the guest of honor at national
general assembly. During the general assembly both Calderon
and the national leader of the CTM, while acknowledging their
allegiance to different political parties, nevertheless
committed themselves to working together for a common good.
Speaking in grand phrases, Calderon promised to work
tirelessly to improve employment opportunities for Mexican
workers, but steered clear of committing himself to specific
items on labor,s legislative agenda. For his part, the CTM
leader expressed concern for the problems facing Mexico but
pointedly avoided any statements that might create problems
for Calderon. After the event, an observer from Mexico,s
third major party characterized the assembly as a
Calderon/CTM love fest and said it proved that the PRI
affiliated confederation is once again the government,s
official union. End Summary.


THE OFFICIAL UNION OF THE FORMER RULING PARTY
--------------


2. Until relatively recently, and for most of Mexico,s
modern history, the CTM (Confederation of Mexican Workers)
has been formally tied to the country,s Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI). The CTM, which could roughly be
compared to the AFL-CIO in the US, is Mexico,s largest
confederation of labor unions. Because of its formal ties to

the PRI, the CTM was considered the official government union
for the 70 years that the PRI ruled Mexico. On paper at
least, and by political inclination, the CTM is still an
integral part of the PRI. Now however, following that
party,s second consecutive loss of a presidential election
(in 2000 and 2006),the CTM is moving to keep its options
open and has moved to establish a closer working relationship
with the PAN (National Action Party) government of recently
inaugurated Mexican President Felipe Calderon.



THE PRI UNION AND THE PAN PRESIDENT
--------------


3. Almost since Felipe Calderon,s inauguration on December
1, 2006, the CTM has done everything possible to avoid any
type of gratuitous confrontations or unnecessarily sharp
criticisms of his new PAN government. This is not to say
that the CTM has uncritically accepted the labor or economic
related initiatives of the Calderon government nor has it
renounced its PRI roots. However, the PRI affiliated labor
confederation has gone out of its way to state that it
believes that negotiation and the (more or less)
dispassionate promotion of issues is more in the interest of
the common Mexican worker in general and of the CTM,s
members in particular.


4. For example, in late December 2006 a tripartite
commission of labor, government and private sector
representatives negotiated a minimum wage increase of 3.9
percent for the calendar year 2007. The CTM and nearly every
other union in Mexico had been insisting on a wage increase
of at least 6-10 percent in order to help workers regain the
purchasing power they had lost during the administration of
Calderon,s predecessor, President Vicente Fox. When the
commission agreed on an increase of only 3.9 percent the
labor unions affiliated with Mexico other major political
party, the PRD (the Party of the Democratic Revolution),
wanted to organize mass public protests. The CTM, however,
declined to participate in any protests and stated that it
would accept the &ridiculous8 wage increase as a vote of
confidence in the new government of Felipe Calderon (Ref B).
Moreover, the CTM advised its member unions to view the
decreed minimum wage increase as the basis of negotiation and
view it as the floor and not the ceiling in any discussion of
worker wages.


MEXICO 00001358 002 OF 003



CTM INVITES CALDERON TO ITS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
--------------


5. The most dramatic gesture to date that the CTM has made
to Felipe Calderon was to invite him to address its 129th
Ordinary General Assembly on February 24. Unquestionably the
main events of the February 24 General Assembly were the
arrival of President Calderon and speeches given by him and
CTM national leader Joaquin Gamboa Pascoe. Prior to the
arrival of Calderon, Gamboa urged the CTM members at the
assembly to treat the President with respect and that is
exactly what they did. Many of the CTM representatives
(especially those from northern Mexico where the PAN is
particularly strong) gave Calderon a standing ovation and
cheered him with unabashed enthusiasm. Media commentators
after the event repeatedly noted that Calderon,s reception
was in marked contrast to the boos and cat calls received by
former President Vicente Fox when he attended a similar event.


6. Speaking first, CTM national leader Joaquin Gamboa
pointedly reaffirmed the CTM,s relationship with the PRI and
then proceeded to offer the confederation,s full support to
the government in general and in particular to Felipe Caldron
as the country,s chief executive. Continuing on, Gamboa
acknowledged the concern of players many in Mexico,s economy
that excessive wage increases might contribute to inflation
and lauded a new initiative by Calderon,s government to
facilitate job creation for young workers called &First
Job8 which would exempt employers from making contributions
to federal health insurance or retirement plans for newly
hired employees. Gamboa concluded his remarks with an
overview of many to the problems facing Mexico but avoided
laying the blame for these problems on Calderon. He then
went into a lengthy aside expressing concern for the problems
of public security and organized crime and urged Calderon to
be firm in dealing with criminal elements.


7. For his part, Calderon warmly thanked Gamboa and the CTM
representatives at the assembly for their expressions of
support. He openly recognized that he was firmly committed
to his own party the PAN but nevertheless promised to work
tirelessly to promote the conditions that would enable
increase job creation in Mexico. Calderon acknowledged the
importance of the CTM as the largest labor confederation in
the country and committed his government to opening a new ear
with the union and to include labor,s proposal in his plans
for governing Mexico. Speaking in general terms Calderon
promised to respect the legal autonomy of organized labor
unions and to support the rights of workers to collective
bargaining and the right to strike. He urged the
confederation to work with him to make Mexico a country able
to compete in today,s globalized economy but otherwise avoid
a specific commitment the PRI labor movement,s legislative
agenda (Ref A). Nor did he make any mention of the ongoing
effort for a major reform of Mexico federal labor laws.


THE PRD CALLS THE CTM THE OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT UNION
-------------- --------------


8. Shortly after the CTM General Assembly, post,s Labor
Counselor met with a member of the PRD,s National Executive
Committee,s labor secretariat. The PRD official stated that
President Calderon,s attendance at the CTM event was proof
positive that the PRI affiliated confederation was once again
the official government union. He dismissed the fact that
Calderon,s government and the CTM belonged to two separate
parties and averred emphatically that confederation was more
interested in once again being on the side of the established
power structure than it was in defending the rights of
Mexican workers and promoting the interests of the average
Mexican citizen. He questioned how the CTM could maintain any
type of real union autonomy when it was now, again, so
closely tied to the party in power.


COMMENT
--------------


9. There seems to be little doubt that the CTM and President
Calderon both took advantage of the confederation,s general
assembly to underscore publicly their intention to work
together in a non-confrontational manner. It is probably too
much of a stretch to say, as the PRD does, that the CTM is
the official government union, but it probably is seeking to
have as close a relationship as possible with President
Calderon given that his administration and the confederation

MEXICO 00001358 003 OF 003


are firmly planted in different political parties. As the
largest labor confederation in Mexico (and with a historical
role of working hand in hand with the federal authorities),
the CTM is institutionally predisposed to defer to the
Mexican government. For his part, President Calderon is
undoubtedly aware that since there are no unions of any size
or stature in Mexico associated with the PAN, his
administration can only benefit from a close relationship
with a large national organization that is prepared to work
with him and give me the benefit of the doubt on labor
related issues.


Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity
GARZA