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