US embassy cable - 04MADRID2303

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 002303 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, ELAB, SP 
SUBJECT: LABOR LEADER SKEPTICAL ON ZAPATERO 
 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Kathleen Fitzpatrick per 1.4 (b) and 
 (d). 
 
1.  (C)  Pol/Labor officer spoke June 16 with Jose Maria 
Fidalgo, Secretary General of Spain's largest trade union 
confederation, CCOO (Comisiones Obreras).  Fidalgo expressed 
a cautious, wait-and-see attitude toward the Zapatero 
government.  He said he was not yet convinced of Zapatero's 
seriousness.  Zapatero has made many promises on such issues 
as shifting more workers from part time contracts to full 
time employment.  However, his government has not yet taken 
any concrete steps to deal with the problem.   On this and 
other matters, there is the need to move from talk to action, 
Fidalgo said.   He noted he had maintained cordial relations 
with Aznar, but the relationship had become strained in the 
final Aznar years.  (He attributed this to Aznar becoming 
more arrogant and isolated in his second term.) 
 
2.  (C)  Fidalgo criticized both Zapatero and, in particular, 
Labor and Social Affairs Minister Jesus Caldera, for not 
knowing how to govern.   He said they are acting as if they 
were still in the opposition or still campaigning.   They 
don't know how to manage; all they seem to know how to do is 
give speeches.   This, he observed, contrasts with the 
Popular Party, which still acts like it is governing and does 
not know how to act in opposition.   Fidalgo attributed the 
confusion on both sides to the fact that neither the PP nor 
the PSOE thought the PSOE would win the March 14 elections. 
As a result, neither leadership is prepared for the roles 
they now occupy.   (Fidalgo commented that there was no doubt 
in his mind that the March 11 Madrid terror attacks had 
thrown the election to the PSOE.  He said that when people 
are frightened and confused, they opt for the easy solution, 
and that is what the PSOE offered.) 
 
3.  (SBU)  Fidalgo told us that the CCOO Director for 
International Affairs, Javier Doz, had recently met AFL-CIO 
President Sweeney in Geneva.   (Note: We invited Doz to 
participate in an International Visitors program this fall 
and he has accepted.)  Fidalgo said the CCOO would like to 
expand its contacts with the AFL-CIO, which, he said, had 
previously kept the CCOO at arms length.   Fidalgo commented 
that the CCOO had added over 200,000 new members in the past 
five years and that its position and finances were solid. 
He noted that the unions had demonstrated their strength in 
June 2002 when they convoked a general strike and compelled 
the Aznar government to back off on measures that would have 
established tight controls on unemployment benefits. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Precarious (temporary contact) employment is 
Spain's number one labor challenge, Fidalgo stated. 
Thirty-one percent of employees are on temporary contracts, a 
figure well above the EU average.   Fidalgo said one of the 
problems in making the temporary jobs permanent is their low 
skill, low productivity nature.   The GOS will have to 
encourage business to invest more in these workers to raise 
their productivity.  Fidalgo said he is pressing the Zapatero 
government to adopt a program of regular consultations with 
the unions; he believes Zapatero will agree. 
 
5.  (C)  Comment: While CCOO's origins are on the left (it 
was originally linked with Spain's communist party) it has 
adopted an increasingly pragmatic posture in recent years 
under Fidalgo's leadership.  Fidalgo made a point of 
stressing to us his previous good relations with the Aznar 
government, his skepticism about Zapatero's ability to 
deliver on his promises, and his desire for improved ties 
with the AFL-CIO.   He did not mention Iraq.   While the 
other main national labor federation, UGT, is nominally 
independent, in reality its leaders are all Socialists.   It 
was notable that Fidalgo expressed no sense of relief that a 
government of the left was in power.   Indeed, he was often 
rolling his eyes as he discussed Zapatero.   On foreign 
policy, the CCOO, while highly critical of US policy in Iraq, 
has been more moderate than the UGT.    CCOO International 
Affairs Director Doz told us he agreed the war in Afghanistan 
was necessary.   The UGT, by contrast, vehemently opposed US 
action in both Afghanistan and Iraq. 
ARGYROS