Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07SANTODOMINGO556
2007-03-14 11:04:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Santo Domingo
Cable title:  

DOMINICAN LABOR, DRIVERS, AND LEFTIST GROUPS

Tags:  ELAB PGOV ENRG EFIN ASEC CASC DR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0006
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #0556/01 0731104
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY AD90CF2B MSI9244-695)
O 141104Z MAR 07 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7663
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMISTA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000556 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - SIPDIS CAPTION ADDED

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, EB, EB/OFD/OMA, EB/OFD/OIA,
EB/ESC/IEC/EPC; SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV ENRG EFIN ASEC CASC DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN LABOR, DRIVERS, AND LEFTIST GROUPS
COOPERATE ON NATIONAL STRIKES

REF: SANTO DOMINGO 0130

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000556

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - SIPDIS CAPTION ADDED

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, EB, EB/OFD/OMA, EB/OFD/OIA,
EB/ESC/IEC/EPC; SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV ENRG EFIN ASEC CASC DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN LABOR, DRIVERS, AND LEFTIST GROUPS
COOPERATE ON NATIONAL STRIKES

REF: SANTO DOMINGO 0130


1. SUMMARY. The Dominican Republic's largest transportation
associations, some key neighborhood organizations, and
umbrella labor union organizations are uniting to promote an
escalating strategy of strikes and protests beginning on
March 14 in support of disparate objectives. Their message:
poor Dominicans need more assistance to cope with stagnant
wages and a rising cost of living. Drivers' associations
continue to demand government subsidies to offset rising fuel
costs and other expenses. Community-based leftist
organizations claim to speak for poor Dominicans
disenfranchised and neglected by government policies. Labor
union umbrella organizations continue in protracted
negotiations with private sector groups over wage increases.
Although labor leaders say they will join in strikes and
protests if negotiations fail to achieve a favorable result,
it is unclear whether workers would heed their calls to do
so. Drivers' associations and leftist organizations have
already carried out some limited actions that have left in
their wake torched vehicles, multiple injuries and at least
one death. The rare unity that exists among these groups may
serve to embolden rank-and-file members. END SUMMARY.


2. On March 8 representatives from the largest labor unions,
drivers' associations and some key neighborhood organizations
signed a pact to cooperate in an escalating series of work
stoppages, protests, and other forms of activism beginning on
March 14. These activities could culminate in a call for a
national strike. The groups' demands and objectives vary,
but they are united in their insistence that their affiliates
need more help to cope with stagnant wages and continuing inflation.
--------------
THE RETURN OF THE TRANSPORTISTAS
--------------

3. Reftel outlines grievances of the private transport

providers, or "transportistas," who move up to a quarter of
the country's working population each day. Transportistas
group themselves effectively into associations that regulate
routes and fares and advocate politically for the interests
of members. The sector's most potent tool in political
advocacy is the transportation strike. Well-coordinated
transportation strikes, defined by coordinated work stoppages
along pre-defined routes, leave thousands of passengers
stranded. In their most damaging strikes, the demonstrators
block thoroughfares, burn tires, and throw objects at
vehicles ignoring the call to strike. Transportistas have
been so effective in their political advocacy that they are
known locally as the "owners of the country."


4. Since January the major transportation federations have
complained that rising fuel costs and other factors are
squeezing their affiliates. They say that without significant
direct government subsidies similar to those given to OMSA,
the government-operated bus lines, they will be forced to
hike significantly the rates they charge to passengers. The
major federations threatened to stage a coordinated strike to
demand such subsidies on January 30, as an offset to the
announced rise in the cost of propane gas, used to fuel many
of their vehicles. On January 25 meeting President Fernandez
and Diandino Pena, Director of the government's Office for
the Reorientation of Transport, shelved the propane gas hike
and convinced transportistas to postpone their call to strike
pending further negotiations on the subsidy proposals.


5. Nearly two months have passed since that accord was
reached. The government announced plans in late February to
study the creation of subsidization scheme to benefit
students, the elderly and persons with disabilities, one of
the transportistas, proposals to justify subsidies. No
decisions have been made. Association leaders complain about
the inaction and say President Fernandez failed to deliver on
several unspecified promises made privately to them. Diandino
Pena has stated repeatedly that the transportistas' proposals
require extensive study -- he appears in part to be simply
stalling for time. The government already heavily subsidizes
liquid propane gas (LPG) for households and transport
providers; given its fiscal pledges under the IMF standby
agreement, the government would have difficulty finding
resources to extend subsidies to other areas, even if the
political will existed to do so.


6. Some transportation strikes have already begun. On March
12, transportistas initiated "surprise strikes" along
hundreds of pre-defined routes, largely to the east of the



capital, leaving thousands unable to obtain transportation
for up to four hours. One protester launched a homemade
incendiary device at a bus ignoring the call to strike;
several passengers, including two pregnant females, suffered
serious burns. Transportistas say protests will continue
until the government makes a favorable reply to their
demands.

--------------
LEFTIST COMMUNITY GROUPS JOIN THE PARTY
--------------

7. Transportation representatives meet regularly with
leftist community organizations and sometimes coordinate
activities. These organizations, which tend to be based in
localities, typically advocate on behalf of poor Dominicans
who feel disenfranchised by the traditional political
process. Two such organizations are the Broad Front for
People's Protests (FALPO),which is active in Navarrete, a
poor community west of Santiago, and the Alternative Social
Forum, active in parts of the central Cibao Valley. Both
these organizations signed the March 8 pact with
transportation federations and labor unions in which the
parties agreed to coordinate a series of protests.


8. Protests by FALPO and the Alternative Social Forum last
week turned violent. One protester was shot dead, presumably
by police, and multiple police and protesters were seriously
injured. Protesters were demanding the construction of public
works, such as highways, that the government had allegedly
promised to their communities; an end to electricity
blackouts; and a lower ("more just") fee structure for
electricity and other basic services. Leftist organizations
have promised to take to the streets alongside drivers and
union members in a protest scheduled for Wednesday, March 14,
and have threatened to intensify their protests if the
government does not respond favorably.

--------------
LABOR UNIONS -- THE WILD CARD?
--------------

9. Labor unions are perhaps the wild card in these
proceedings. About once a year representatives from umbrella
labor organizations such as the National Labor Unions Board
(CNUS) meet with representatives from umbrella private sector
groups like the National Private Entrepreneurs, Council
(CONEP) to discuss increases in the minimum wage. These
meetings are generally overseen by the government's National
Committee on Salaries (CNS),which issues binding resolutions
to private sector employers mandating compliance with the
terms of agreements that are reached.


10. This year labor organizations have demanded a 30 percent
wage hike for all private sector employees earning up to
30,000 pesos (USD 1,000) per month -- a cap that includes a
significant number of workers paid wages well above the
minimum of 6,400 pesos (USD 200) per month. They say that
such a raise is needed in order to bring salaries in line
with losses to inflation. Employers have offered to raise the
minimum wage only by 9.3 percent. Union representatives, led
by Rafael Abreu of the CNUS, have held several failed
negotiations with private sector groups. Unions say they are
willing to negotiate the exact amount of the raise, but they
are adamant that any agreement also include those who earn
above the minimum. Employers say that wage increases for
those earning above the minimum are outside the legal scope
of their discussions. As of COB March 13, private sector and
union representatives remained in last-minute negotiations
mediated by Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, rector of the
Pontifical Catholic University Mother and Teacher (PUCMM).


11. Labor union representatives also signed the March 8
agreement, promising to cooperate with transportation groups
and community groups in protests and strikes. Such
cooperation is unusual. Large-scale strikes are rarely, if
ever, successfully orchestrated by organized labor groups,
and organized labor generally does not cooperate in such a
manner with the transportation syndicates. Rafael Abreu,
Vice-President of CNUS, said that the groups shared
"transitory coincidences" that were amplified by the
government's poor fiscal policy.


12. However, the cooperation between these groups would
appear to present some benefits to all. For the
transportistas, an alliance with labor unions will serve to
reinforce the impression that they are advocating for the



interests of all poor Dominicans, rather than only for their
own parochial ones (a cynical view shared by most
Dominicans). For labor unions, the cooperation will bring
heightened publicity. Unions are generally unpopular in this
country, and it is unknown whether a call to strike would be
heeded. By coordinating activities with other groups, unions
may find their members more likely to respond; even if they
do not, by piggy-backing with other groups, the strike would
be less likely to be seen as a failure.

--------------
PLANNED PROTESTS
--------------

13. Protest activities will begin with a March 14 march to
the " Torre Empresarial" office building in Santo Domingo.
Labor unions, transport federations and leftist organizations
say they will lead an escalating series of strikes and
demonstrations over the ensuing weeks, to culminate in a
national call to strike, until their demands are met.


14. Diandino Pena insists that the government will not
negotiate under duress. Officials say they have armed police
prepared to stop protesters with teargas, and they are not
afraid of the work stoppages that transportistas have
threatened. Of course, officials from President Fernandez's
administration made similar statements both times they were
threatened with such strikes in the past. In the end, on both
occasions, it was President Fernandez who blinked first.

HERTELL