MALI'S SECOND LARGEST UNION LEFT OUT IN THE COLD

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000806 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019 TAGS: PGOV PHUM ML SUBJECT: MALI'S SECOND LARGEST UNION LEFT OUT IN THE COLD Classified By: Political Counselor Peter Newman, Embassy Bamako, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 1.(C) Summary: On November 12, President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT) signed a decree naming 58 members to the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (CESC),one of the constitutionally created institutions of the Malian government. Not one of the 58 members came from the list submitted by the Confererated Union of Malian Workers (CSTM), notwithstanding three Supreme Court rulings that the union's exclusion is against the law and government reassurances it would adhere to the rulings. End Summary. 2.(U) The Malian Constitution created the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (CESC) to serve in an advisory capacity to the government, similar to the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisors. Although the CESC has failed to leave its mark on Malian democracy (see septel),the right to seats on the council has been the source of a serious dispute between the government and Mali's second largest umbrella labor union association, the Confederated Union of Malian Workers (CSTM). CSTM, created in 1997, feels entitled to seats on the CESC based on a 1992 law establishing that the 12 seats on the CESC reserved for labor must be distributed among "the most representative labor union associations." In 2002, 2007, and 2008, the Supreme Court of Mali ruled that the use of the plural for "associations" in the statute forbids the government from distributing all 12 labor union seats on the CESC to one labor union alone. Notwithstanding the court orders, the government has consistently offered all 12 labor union seats on the CESC to Mali's largest labor union association, the National Union of the Workers of Mali (UNTM),to the exclusion of CSTM. 3.(C) The 2002 Supreme Court decision declared void the decree that named members to the 1999-2004 term of the CESC. Considering the CESC as then constituted illegal, the National Assembly refused to hear the 2003 report offered by the institution. ATT calmed the waters by signing a new decree stating, in effect, that in the future members would be named from more than one labor union association. In September 2004, however, ATT named 12 members of UNTM to fill the 12 seats for labor on the CESC. 4.(C) Following the 2007 and 2008 Supreme Court decisions declaring ATT's September 2004 appointments illegal as inconsistent with both the underlying law and his 2003 decree, CSTM was contacted by the Minister of Labor and asked to submit a list of candidates for the 2009-2014 term of the CESC. In a December 7 meeting with PolOff, CSTM Secretary-General Hammadoun Amion Guindo stated that in October 2009, Prime Minister Modibo Sidibe had proposed that six seats would be given to UNTM, four to CSTM, and two to independent unions. On October 22, however, the Prime Minister called Guindo to say that because professional elections had never been organized for any labor union, the government did not know the relative strength of each labor union association. Therefore, Sidibe said, all 12 seats would be assigned to UNTM. 5.(C) In Guindo's view, the decision was "purely political." Guindo argues that there are historical links dating from the struggle for democracy between UNTM and both former President Alpha Oumar Konare and ATT. Guindo believes ATT is simply more comfortable working with one labor union with which he enjoys excellent relations. CSTM is currently engaged in contacting National Assembly Deputies to request the National Assembly's assistance, although it is pessimistic about the prospects for National Assembly intervention in this instance. MILOVANOVIC