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P 162134Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5870
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 001358 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILCSR, WHA/MEX AND PPC, USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV SOCI PINR MX
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT CALDERON ALL BUT EMBRACES OPPOSITON 
LABOR CONFEDERATION AS OFFICIAL UNION 
 
REF: (A) 06 MEXICO 5528 (B) 06 MEXICO 7042 
 
(1.  Summary: For most of the history of modern Mexico the 
CTM, (Confederation of Mexican Workers) the country,s 
largest association of labor unions, was formally tied to one 
political party.  Officially the CTM is still a part of that 
party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which 
governed Mexico for most of the past 70 years. Now however, 
after the PRI,s second consecutive loss of a president 
election, the CTM has moved to establish a close working 
relationship with the PAN (National Action Party) government 
of Mexican President, Felipe Calderon.  On February 24, the 
CTM invited President Calderon to address the representatives 
of the labor confederation as the guest of honor at national 
general assembly.  During the general assembly both Calderon 
and the national leader of the CTM, while acknowledging their 
allegiance to different political parties, nevertheless 
committed themselves to working together for a common good. 
Speaking in grand phrases, Calderon promised to work 
tirelessly to improve employment opportunities for Mexican 
workers, but steered clear of committing himself to specific 
items on labor,s legislative agenda.  For his part, the CTM 
leader expressed concern for the problems facing Mexico but 
pointedly avoided any statements that might create problems 
for Calderon.  After the event, an observer from Mexico,s 
third major party characterized the assembly as a 
Calderon/CTM love fest and said it proved that the PRI 
affiliated confederation is once again the government,s 
official union.  End Summary. 
 
 
THE OFFICIAL UNION OF THE FORMER RULING PARTY 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Until relatively recently, and for most of Mexico,s 
modern history, the CTM (Confederation of Mexican Workers) 
has been formally tied to the country,s Institutional 
Revolutionary Party (PRI). The CTM, which could roughly be 
compared to the AFL-CIO in the US, is Mexico,s largest 
confederation of labor unions.  Because of its formal ties to 
the PRI, the CTM was considered the official government union 
for the 70 years that the PRI ruled Mexico.  On paper at 
least, and by political inclination, the CTM is still an 
integral part of the PRI. Now however, following that 
party,s second consecutive loss of a presidential election 
(in 2000 and 2006), the CTM is moving to keep its options 
open and has moved to establish a closer working relationship 
with the PAN (National Action Party) government of recently 
inaugurated Mexican President Felipe Calderon. 
 
 
 
THE PRI UNION AND THE PAN PRESIDENT 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  Almost since Felipe Calderon,s inauguration on December 
1, 2006, the CTM has done everything possible to avoid any 
type of gratuitous confrontations or unnecessarily sharp 
criticisms of his new PAN government.  This is not to say 
that the CTM has uncritically accepted the labor or economic 
related initiatives of the Calderon government nor has it 
renounced its PRI roots. However, the PRI affiliated labor 
confederation has gone out of its way to state that it 
believes that negotiation and the (more or less) 
dispassionate promotion of issues is more in the interest of 
the common Mexican worker in general and of the CTM,s 
members in particular. 
 
¶4.  For example, in late December 2006 a tripartite 
commission of labor, government and private sector 
representatives negotiated a minimum wage increase of 3.9 
percent for the calendar year 2007.  The CTM and nearly every 
other union in Mexico had been insisting on a wage increase 
of at least 6-10 percent in order to help workers regain the 
purchasing power they had lost during the administration of 
Calderon,s predecessor, President Vicente Fox.  When the 
commission agreed on an increase of only 3.9 percent the 
labor unions affiliated with Mexico other major political 
party, the PRD (the Party of the Democratic Revolution), 
wanted to organize mass public protests. The CTM, however, 
declined to participate in any protests and stated that it 
would accept the &ridiculous8 wage increase as a vote of 
confidence in the new government of Felipe Calderon (Ref B). 
Moreover, the CTM advised its member unions to view the 
decreed minimum wage increase as the basis of negotiation and 
view it as the floor and not the ceiling in any discussion of 
worker wages. 
 
 
MEXICO 00001358  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
CTM INVITES CALDERON TO ITS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  The most dramatic gesture to date that the CTM has made 
to Felipe Calderon was to invite him to address its 129th 
Ordinary General Assembly on February 24.  Unquestionably the 
main events of the February 24 General Assembly were the 
arrival of President Calderon and speeches given by him and 
CTM national leader Joaquin Gamboa Pascoe.  Prior to the 
arrival of Calderon, Gamboa urged the CTM members at the 
assembly to treat the President with respect and that is 
exactly what they did.  Many of the CTM representatives 
(especially those from northern Mexico where the PAN is 
particularly strong) gave Calderon a standing ovation and 
cheered him with unabashed enthusiasm.  Media commentators 
after the event repeatedly noted that Calderon,s reception 
was in marked contrast to the boos and cat calls received by 
former President Vicente Fox when he attended a similar event. 
 
¶6.  Speaking first, CTM national leader Joaquin Gamboa 
pointedly reaffirmed the CTM,s relationship with the PRI and 
then proceeded to offer the confederation,s full support to 
the government in general and in particular to Felipe Caldron 
as the country,s chief executive. Continuing on, Gamboa 
acknowledged the concern of players many in Mexico,s economy 
that excessive wage increases might contribute to inflation 
and lauded a new initiative by Calderon,s government to 
facilitate job creation for young workers called &First 
Job8 which would exempt employers from making contributions 
to federal health insurance or retirement plans for newly 
hired employees.  Gamboa concluded his remarks with an 
overview of many to the problems facing Mexico but avoided 
laying the blame for these problems on Calderon.  He then 
went into a lengthy aside expressing concern for the problems 
of public security and organized crime and urged Calderon to 
be firm in dealing with criminal elements. 
 
¶7.  For his part, Calderon warmly thanked Gamboa and the CTM 
representatives at the assembly for their expressions of 
support.  He openly recognized that he was firmly committed 
to his own party the PAN but nevertheless promised to work 
tirelessly to promote the conditions that would enable 
increase job creation in Mexico.  Calderon acknowledged the 
importance of the CTM as the largest labor confederation in 
the country and committed his government to opening a new ear 
with the union and to include labor,s proposal in his plans 
for governing Mexico. Speaking in general terms Calderon 
promised to respect the legal autonomy of organized labor 
unions and to support the rights of workers to collective 
bargaining and the right to strike.  He urged the 
confederation to work with him to make Mexico a country able 
to compete in today,s globalized economy but otherwise avoid 
a specific commitment the PRI labor movement,s legislative 
agenda (Ref A). Nor did he make any mention of the ongoing 
effort for a major reform of Mexico federal labor laws. 
 
 
THE PRD CALLS THE CTM THE OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT UNION 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶8.  Shortly after the CTM General Assembly, post,s Labor 
Counselor met with a member of the PRD,s National Executive 
Committee,s labor secretariat.  The PRD official stated that 
President Calderon,s attendance at the CTM event was proof 
positive that the PRI affiliated confederation was once again 
the official government union.  He dismissed the fact that 
Calderon,s government and the CTM belonged to two separate 
parties and averred emphatically that confederation was more 
interested in once again being on the side of the established 
power structure than it was in defending the rights of 
Mexican workers and promoting the interests of the average 
Mexican citizen. He questioned how the CTM could maintain any 
type of real union autonomy when it was now, again, so 
closely tied to the party in power. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  There seems to be little doubt that the CTM and President 
Calderon both took advantage of the confederation,s general 
assembly to underscore publicly their intention to work 
together in a non-confrontational manner.  It is probably too 
much of a stretch to say, as the PRD does, that the CTM is 
the official government union, but it probably is seeking to 
have as close a relationship as possible with President 
Calderon given that his administration and the confederation 
 
MEXICO 00001358  003 OF 003 
 
 
are firmly planted in different political parties.  As the 
largest labor confederation in Mexico (and with a historical 
role of working hand in hand with the federal authorities), 
the CTM is institutionally predisposed to defer to the 
Mexican government.  For his part, President Calderon is 
undoubtedly aware that since there are no unions of any size 
or stature in Mexico associated with the PAN, his 
administration can only benefit from a close relationship 
with a large national organization that is prepared to work 
with him and give me the benefit of the doubt on labor 
related issues. 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity 
GARZA