US embassy cable - 05CARACAS509

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000509 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON AND TSHANNON 
HQ USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2015 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, KDEM, PHUM, VE 
SUBJECT: UNION LEADERS DIVIDE WHILE WORKER DISCONTENT GROWS 
 
REF: 04 CARACAS 03164 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Abelardo A. Arias for Reason 1.4(b). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) Senior leaders of Venezuela's two principal labor 
confederations -- one pro-Chavez, the other in opposition -- 
are gridlocked over upcoming elections in their respective 
organizations.  The traditional Venezuelan Workers 
Confederation (CTV) is split over whether to roll back a 
reform for the direct election of its leaders.  The National 
Workers' Union (UNT), a GOV supporter, is fractured over a 
proposal to invite every formal worker, regardless of union 
membership, to participate in its election.  While the debate 
continues, senior labor leaders appear to be unable or 
unwilling to shift from older models of achieving and 
maintaining power through political party alliances to 
responding to their members on issues.  End summary. 
 
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CTV Considers Return To Indirect Elections 
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2. (C) The Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV), 
Venezuela's oldest labor confederation, had tried to move up 
its 2005 elections to coincide with those at the union and 
federation level, which typically draw more worker interest 
(ref).  According to various labor leaders, the differences 
of opinion are such that the CTV elections will have to be 
held at their regularly scheduled time at the end of the 
year.  The CTV's executive committee has been bogged down in 
proposals for different election scenarios.  Manuel Cova, the 
CTV's secretary general and acting president in the absence 
of exiled strike leader Carlos Ortega, advocates a return to 
the traditional model of electing confederation leaders by a 
vote of the boards of CTV's 850 affiliates.  Others are 
calling for an open vote of CTV's one million members. 
 
3. (C) The National Electoral Council (CNE), empowered by the 
constitution to oversee union elections, issued new 
regulations for union elections in December 2004.  Jesus 
Urbieta, head of CTV's labor studies institute and member of 
the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Administrative 
Committee, said the new rules, if followed, would "destroy 
the CTV."  Among his objections, Urbieta highlighted the 
requirement to provide the CNE with names of all affiliated 
CTV workers, which he said could be used by the GOV to harass 
them as happened with persons who signed to recall President 
Hugo Chavez.  Urbieta said that while the CTV executive 
council is prepared to flout the CNE's oversight, it has 
nevertheless recommended that their unions and federations 
abide by the new rules.  At the local and federation level, 
Urbieta explained, unions run the risk of losing their legal 
identity if elections are not certified, which would impede 
vital union functions such as collective bargaining.  Urbieta 
said the CTV plans to contest the CNE requirement in March at 
the ILO, which had already determined that the laws upon 
which the new rules are written violate ILO Convention 87 on 
freedom of association. 
 
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UNT Faction Seeks Open Elections 
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4. (C) The pro-Chavez National Workers' Union (UNT) has 
survived for two years with a cumbersome executive committee 
and no president.  Major factions within the UNT were hoping 
to hold elections early in 2005, but disputes among UNT's 
principal factions have slowed progress.  Franklin Rondon, 
UNT national coordinator and leader of the GOV-aligned 
federal workers federation, publicly proposed that every 
worker registered in social security, regardless of union 
affiliation, be included in the UNT election.  Rondon told 
poloff February 9 that opening the election up to some 4.5 
million workers would make the new UNT president the second 
most popularly elected official in Venezuela, after President 
Chavez.  (Rondon, a former Christian Democrat (COPEI) member 
of the CTV's executive council, said his faction is 
supporting popular Bolivar State union leader Ramon Machuca 
for presidency of the UNT.)  UNT rival Orlando Chirino 
publicly questioned the responsibility of Rondon's proposal, 
saying that labor collectives are built by enlisting member 
unions, not by having millions of workers participate in 
elections.  Rondon ally Francisco Torrealba told poloff 
February 9 his group also fears manipulation by Minister of 
Labor Maria Cristina Iglesias, who favors the Chirino faction 
over that of Rondon, Torrealba, and Machuca. 
 
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The Future Depends On The Base 
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5. (C) CTV and UNT leaders agree that the GOV has done little 
to improve conditions for workers because organized labor has 
been weakened.  The CTV's Urbieta asserted that the GOV's 
half-hearted policy of pushing parallel unions under the UNT 
only serves to weaken labor's overall strength vis-a-vis 
government and management.  Torrealba said the GOV also 
undercuts unions by promoting the establishment of 
cooperatives -- groups of informal workers who win contracts 
in the public sector for services such as trash collection, 
maintenance, and uniform manufacturing.  Antonio Suarez, head 
of the CTV's public sector federation and leader of a small 
coalition of young union leaders, predicted that without a 
renewal in CTV leadership, the CTV will continue to decline 
in political and social relevancy.  Both Suarez and Rondon 
reported that union leaders from the opposing side have 
started attending each others' workplace meetings.  Suarez 
said the message was clear:  unions need to forget politics 
and unite around issues. 
 
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What Chavez Wants From Labor 
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6. (C) Urbieta pointed out that Chavez's revolutionary 
rhetoric is virtually silent on organized labor.  Several 
labor leaders stated that Chavez opposes strong labor 
movements because they are a threat to his so-called 
civil-military model of governance.  Rondon, whose movement 
supports the GOV despite advocating for union independence, 
admitted that his position has drawn criticism from radical 
Chavez supporters and that he has been frozen out of 
negotiations with the Ministry of Labor on union issues.  He 
said his movement has "become a headache" for hard core 
Chavez supporters.  For these reasons, Rondon asserted, he 
has been attacked as a corrupt union boss by some pro-Chavez 
media outlets.  Looking ahead, Rondon hopes to present his 
own pro-labor candidates for National Assembly elections in 
December and, one day, to form a labor-based political party. 
 
 
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Comment 
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7. (C) Unions are on the hot seat to prove their relevancy to 
their members.  The CTV leadership appears to be unprepared 
to undertake the fundamental changes needed to recapture its 
worker base, chief among them weaning the organization off 
its reliance on political parties and re-focusing it on 
issues that affect workers.  The GOV is also exacerbating the 
CTV's dilemma by granting access to favored UNT unions in 
contract negotiations.  The UNT, however, has its own 
identity crisis.  Most of its leaders are recent CTV 
defectors, angry over the CTV's monolithic ways, and still 
not elected in their own right.  True Chavez supporters do 
not trust UNT leaders and are suspicious of a labor agenda 
that is not in lockstep with the revolution.  Integration of 
the CTV and UNT is unlikely, though a common front against 
the GOV on select labor issues is a possibility in the 
medium-term. 
 
Brownfield