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DE RUEHME #5720/01 2792157
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 062157Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3577
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 005720 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, WHA/MEX, WHA/PPC; USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV PHUM MX
SUBJECT: DISSIDENT PEMEX WORKERS SEEK TO OVERTURN YEAR OLD 
UNION ELECTION 
 
 
----------- 
SUMMARY 
----------- 
 
¶1.  A dissident faction of MexicoQs Petroleum Workers 
Union is trying to overturn the October 2005 re-election 
of union Secretary General Carlos Romero Deschamps.  The 
re-election of Romero Deschamps means that he will head 
the Oil WorkersQ Union from 2007-2012. According to the 
dissidents, Romero DeschampsQ re-election as union 
Secretary General was in blatant violation of numerous 
 
SIPDIS 
union rules.  The dissidentsQ appeals to the Mexican 
GovernmentQs Labor Secretariat (STPS) to overturn the 
election have been declined. According to STPS, it has no 
legal authority to interfere in an internal union matter. 
The next step for the dissidents is to seek redress from 
MexicoQs Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Council.  At 
present, it seems unlikely that RomeroQs re-election will 
be overturned.  Nevertheless, this dispute will 
undoubtedly carry over from the outgoing Fox 
administration, to the incoming Calderon administration. 
The situation bears watching given the large US purchases 
of Mexican petroleum products.  End Summary. 
 
 
---------------------------- 
An Unusually Early Election 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2.  In October of 2005, the Executive Committee of 
MexicoQs Petroleum WorkersQ Union (Sindicato de 
Trabajadores Petroleros de la Republica Mexicana - STPRM) 
held an 'Extraordinary Convention' to elect a replacement 
for union leader Secretary General Carlos Romero 
Deschamps.  An election to replace an outgoing union 
leader would not normally be an extraordinary event but in 
this case Romero Deschamps still had over a year in 
office.  Moreover, STPRM rules specifically state that 
elections for a new Secretary General are to be held in 
the last three months of the current leaderQs mandate. 
 
¶3.  It is unclear what prompted the need for this early 
election. Conjecture voiced by a dissident faction of the 
STPRM, known as the National Alliance of Petroleum 
Workers, claims Romero DeschampsQ early re-election was 
prompted by the fear of a PRD victory in MexicoQs 2006 
presidential campaign.  In October 2005, PRD presidential 
candidate Lopez Obrador looked to be the sure winner in 
the race to become MexicoQs next president.  A PRD 
presidential win would have given that party the power to 
confirm the results of the union election. Consequently, 
according to the dissidents, the union establishment 
wanted to ensure its continued control of the organization 
and therefore moved forward the election of the next 
Secretary General in order to present the GOM with a fait 
 
SIPDIS 
accompli. 
 
------------------------------- 
Allegations and Irregularities 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4. Given that STPRM statues call for the election of a new 
Secretary General no more than three months before the end 
 
SIPDIS 
of the current union leaderQs term of office it appears 
strange indeed that an extraordinary convention was called 
long established and widely accepted syndicate. Romero 
DeschampsQ re-election was further complicated by his 
alleged involvement with the 'Pemexgate' scandal in which 
large amounts of union funds were illegally diverted to 
the campaign of the PRI political partyQs presidential 
nominee.  STPRM rules state that a person charged with a 
crime cannot stand for union office and at the time of his 
re-election a formal warrant had been issued for RomeroQs 
arrest. (Note: The warrant was never carried out thanks to 
a legal injunction filed by RomeroQs attorney. The charges 
against him were not dropped until July of 2006.) 
 
¶5.  According to one of Mexico CityQs major daily 
newspapers, Excelsior, there were a total of eight serious 
irregularities in Romero DeschampsQ re-election as STPRM 
Secretary General.  A partial list of these irregularities 
 
SIPDIS 
included such things as claiming that the stated purpose 
of the 'extraordinary convention' was to select 
replacements for several positions that were vacant at 
that time. Initially no mention was made of was of a plan 
to elect a new Secretary General. Excelsior calms that all 
of the persons allowed to vote at the convention were 
handpicked friends of Romero. Numerous GOM Secretariat of 
 
MEXICO 00005720  002 OF 002 
 
 
Labor officials were at the convention in violation of ILO 
convention #87.  Romero Deschamps himself presided over 
the entire process of the convention in which he was re- 
elected union Secretary General which, from start to 
finish, was completed in a record three and one half 
hours. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Labor Secretariat Claims Neutrality 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  Many of the irregularities involved in RomeroQs re- 
election might well have been dismissed as press 
speculation except for the fact that Excelsior claims it 
obtained a copy of the minutes taken at the extraordinary 
convention.  The authenticity of the minutes has not been 
disputed by the Secretariat of Labor (STPS).  Moreover, 
the Secretariat has gone out of it way to publicly claim 
its neutrality on the question RomeroQs re-election. 
STPSQ position on the topic of Romero, to both Excelsior 
and the dissident oil workers that have asked for the 
annulment of the Secretary GeneralQs re-election is that 
the entire matter is an internal union affair.  Moreover, 
a Labor Secretariat spokesman stated, changes to union 
rules previously enacted by the STPRM allowed the 
organization to advance the date of RomeroQs re-election. 
Consequently, the STPS says, it has no legal authority to 
change the results of these internal rule or the process 
of electing a new union Secretary General. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Dissents Not Yet Prepared to Give-up the Fight 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7.  The next step for the dissent oil workers is to seek 
redress from MexicoQs Federal Conciliation and Arbitration 
Council.  Unlike the STSP, the Council does appear to have 
the legal authority to overturn Romero DeschampsQ re- 
election.  The appeal to the council is being prepared for 
the dissidents by CEREAL QCentro de Reflexion y Accion 
Laboral (Center for Reflection and Labor Action). CEREAL 
is a Mexico City based NGO labor and human rights 
organization affiliated with Jesuits and the Center for 
Justice and International Law in Washington, DC.  Thus far 
there is no indication that the Council will rush the 
dissents case to the top of its agenda which means the 
matter will not be resolved one way of the other before 
the December inauguration on recently elected president, 
Felipe Calderon. 
 
-------- 
Comment 
-------- 
 
¶8.  By all accounts the dissidentsQ efforts to oust Carlos 
Romero Deschamps have been going on almost since his re- 
election. The Labor Secretariat under outgoing Mexican 
President Vicente Fox has successfully kept the matter at 
arms-length by claiming it a lack of legal authority to 
interfere in an internal union matter. That said, the Fox 
administration tacitly endorsed RomeroQs re-election when 
it sent two cabinet level Secretaries (Labor and 
Government) to his swearing-in ceremony. 
 
¶9.  At this point it seems unlikely that any branch or 
agency of the Mexican government will overturn Romero 
DeschampsQ re-election as the head of the Oil Workers 
Union. Moreover, outside of the dissidents, most petroleum 
works seem satisfied with the fact that their union, even 
with what appears to be some genuine internal problems, 
still has obtained perhaps the most generous labor 
contracts in Mexico. 
 
¶10.  On the surface all appears well, but there is a 
history of labor actions in Mexico that have started small 
and unexpectedly grown larger and more intractable than 
most observers could have imagined. Although this 
situation is unlikely to follow that route, it 
nevertheless bears watching since there is no sure way of 
knowing what approach the incoming Mexican government 
administration will take to labor issues. Given the large 
US purchases of Mexican petroleum products, potential 
labor unrest in the countryQs oil industry is a subject we 
need to track. 
 
GARZA