US embassy cable - 05QUITO810

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 000810 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/AND, WHA/PPC, EB, AND DRL/IL. USDOL FOR JORGE 
PEREZ-LOPEZ. GENEVA FOR JOHN CHAMBERLIN. PLEASE PASS USTR 
FOR A/USTR CLATANOFF, V. LOPEZ AND B. HARMON. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, EC 
SUBJECT: ILO READY TO ASSIST WITH LABOR REFORM 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  Minister of Labor Raul Izurieta tells us 
he is ready for an ILO-recommended labor consultant to come 
to Ecuador as soon as possible.  ILO/Lima sent the MOL a 
report the week of April 4 outlining areas where Ecuadorian 
labor law does not fully comply with international labor 
standards.  ILO/Lima is waiting for a response from Izurieta 
to decide next steps, including the use of a labor reform 
consultant.  A labor consultant's role in Ecuador has yet to 
be defined.  End Summary. 
 
MOL Ready For Reform 
-------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) On March 31, PolChief, EconChief, LabOff and USAID 
FSN met with Izurieta to discuss the status of labor reform. 
Izurieta said he was waiting for a report from the ILO which 
would include points to be combined with already-existing 
reform proposals to increase Ecuadorian businesses' 
competitiveness.  Embassy officers emphasized the need for 
any labor reform proposal to be balanced to reflect both 
business and labor interests, and to be created through a 
tripartite dialogue.  Izurieta said he had recently traveled 
to Geneva where he spoke with Arturo Bronstein, a labor law 
policy advisor for the ILO, about coming to Ecuador as a 
consultant in the labor reform process.  Izurieta said he is 
ready to have an ILO-recommended labor consultant come to 
Ecuador as soon as possible, however he feels that ILO/Lima 
has been slow to respond. 
 
ILO Report Outlines Labor Law Deficiencies 
------------------------------------------ 
 
3.  (SBU) In a conversation with LabOff and USAID FSN on 
April 12, Ricardo Hernandez Pulido, Director of the ILO's 
Andean sub-regional office in Lima, said the ILO had provided 
Izurieta with a report on freedom of association and 
collective bargaining, hourly work, company retirement, 
subcontracting, and child labor during the week of April 4. 
The report analyzed whether current legislation on the issues 
meets international labor standards.  For issues other than 
subcontracting (for which they already presented draft text 
in 2004), the ILO elaborated points that could easily be 
converted into labor law text, if the MOL requests this.  He 
said the topics of the report were chosen to reflect USG 
labor concerns raised at the FTA round in Cartagena. 
ILO/Lima could not share the report with the Embassy until 
Izurieta had responded, he said.  Pulido also said there was 
a 1998 report that specifically outlined labor code reforms 
to improve freedom of association and collective bargaining 
rights.  He said that, if the MOL approved, the ILO could 
provide the Embassy with a copy of this report. 
 
4.  (SBU) Pulido said he had been expecting a response from 
Izurieta on April 11, but the response was delayed due to the 
current political situation and strikes.  Pulido said he 
would continue working on getting a response from Izurieta 
and propose a meeting (to include the Embassy, if Izurieta 
approves) for the week of April 25 to discuss next steps. 
 
Labor Consultant's Role Still Undefined 
--------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) Pulido said that Alfredo Villavicencio, the former 
Peruvian Vice Minister of Labor, is still a possible 
candidate to come to Ecuador as a labor reform consultant. 
Pulido said Izurieta would have the final say on the 
consultant chosen and on what role the consultant would play. 
 The consultant could help only in preparing new labor code 
text, or could also act as a facilitator to encourage 
tripartite dialogue.  He said it still had not been 
determined how many times a consultant would come to Ecuador 
and how much time he or she would spend here.  Pulido said he 
would call LabOff once he had a response from Izurieta to 
discuss a future meeting in Quito. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
6.  (SBU) Izurieta seems to have found a new enthusiasm for 
labor reform, which is all the more reason to encourage the 
ILO to act quickly in bringing a labor reform consultant.  We 
will continue to urge Izurieta and the ILO/Lima to act with 
haste.  The Embassy will also encourage any labor consultant 
to play a facilitator role, as achieving tripartite dialogue 
and negotiation remains a high hurdle. 
KENNEY