VZCZCXYZ0006
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #0556/01 0731104
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY AD90CF2B MSI9244-695)
O 141104Z MAR 07 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7663
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMISTA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000556 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y - SIPDIS CAPTION ADDED 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, EB, EB/OFD/OMA, EB/OFD/OIA, 
EB/ESC/IEC/EPC; SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV ENRG EFIN ASEC CASC DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN LABOR, DRIVERS, AND LEFTIST GROUPS 
COOPERATE ON NATIONAL STRIKES 
 
REF: SANTO DOMINGO 0130 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY.  The Dominican Republic's largest transportation 
associations, some key neighborhood organizations, and 
umbrella labor union organizations are uniting to promote an 
escalating strategy of strikes and protests beginning on 
March 14 in support of disparate objectives.  Their message: 
poor Dominicans need more assistance to cope with stagnant 
wages and a rising cost of living. Drivers' associations 
continue to demand government subsidies to offset rising fuel 
costs and other expenses. Community-based leftist 
organizations claim to speak for poor Dominicans 
disenfranchised and neglected by government policies. Labor 
union umbrella organizations continue in protracted 
negotiations with private sector groups over wage increases. 
Although labor leaders say they will join in strikes and 
protests if negotiations fail to achieve a favorable result, 
it is unclear whether workers would heed their calls to do 
so. Drivers' associations and leftist organizations have 
already carried out some limited actions that have left in 
their wake torched vehicles, multiple injuries and at least 
one death. The rare unity that exists among these groups may 
serve to embolden rank-and-file members.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  On March 8 representatives from the largest labor unions, 
drivers' associations and some key neighborhood organizations 
signed a pact to cooperate in an escalating series of work 
stoppages, protests, and other forms of activism beginning on 
March 14. These activities could culminate in a call for a 
national strike.  The groups' demands and objectives vary, 
but they are united in their insistence that their affiliates 
need more help to cope with stagnant wages and continuing inflation. 
-------------------------------- 
THE RETURN OF THE TRANSPORTISTAS 
-------------------------------- 
¶3.  Reftel outlines grievances of the private transport 
providers, or "transportistas," who move up to a quarter of 
the country's working population each day. Transportistas 
group themselves effectively into associations that regulate 
routes and fares and advocate politically for the interests 
of members. The sector's most potent tool in political 
advocacy is the transportation strike. Well-coordinated 
transportation strikes, defined by coordinated work stoppages 
along pre-defined routes, leave thousands of passengers 
stranded. In their most damaging strikes, the demonstrators 
block thoroughfares, burn tires, and throw objects at 
vehicles ignoring the call to strike. Transportistas have 
been so effective in their political advocacy that they are 
known locally as the "owners of the country." 
 
¶4.  Since January the major transportation federations have 
complained that rising fuel costs and other factors are 
squeezing their affiliates. They say that without significant 
direct government subsidies similar to those given to OMSA, 
the government-operated bus lines, they will be forced to 
hike significantly the rates they charge to passengers. The 
major federations threatened to stage a coordinated strike to 
demand such subsidies on January 30, as an offset to the 
announced rise in the cost of propane gas, used to fuel many 
of their vehicles.  On January 25 meeting President Fernandez 
and Diandino Pena, Director of the government's Office for 
the Reorientation of Transport, shelved the propane gas hike 
and convinced transportistas to postpone their call to strike 
pending further negotiations on the subsidy proposals. 
 
¶5.  Nearly two months have passed since that accord was 
reached. The government announced plans in late February to 
study the creation of subsidization scheme to benefit 
students, the elderly and persons with disabilities, one of 
the transportistas, proposals to justify subsidies. No 
decisions have been made.  Association leaders complain about 
the inaction and say President Fernandez failed to deliver on 
several unspecified promises made privately to them. Diandino 
Pena has stated repeatedly that the transportistas' proposals 
require extensive study -- he appears in part to be simply 
stalling for time. The government already heavily subsidizes 
liquid propane gas (LPG) for households and transport 
providers; given its fiscal pledges under the IMF standby 
agreement, the government would have difficulty finding 
resources to extend subsidies to other areas, even if the 
political will existed to do so. 
 
¶6.  Some transportation strikes have already begun. On March 
12, transportistas initiated "surprise strikes" along 
hundreds of pre-defined routes, largely to the east of the 
 
 
 
capital, leaving thousands unable to obtain transportation 
for up to four hours. One protester launched a homemade 
incendiary device at a bus ignoring the call to strike; 
several passengers, including two pregnant females, suffered 
serious burns. Transportistas say protests will continue 
until the government makes a favorable reply to their 
demands. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
LEFTIST COMMUNITY GROUPS JOIN THE PARTY 
--------------------------------------- 
¶7.  Transportation representatives meet regularly with 
leftist community organizations and sometimes coordinate 
activities. These organizations, which tend to be based in 
localities, typically advocate on behalf of poor Dominicans 
who feel disenfranchised by the traditional political 
process. Two such organizations are the Broad Front for 
People's Protests (FALPO), which is active in Navarrete, a 
poor community west of Santiago, and the Alternative Social 
Forum, active in parts of the central Cibao Valley. Both 
these organizations signed the March 8 pact with 
transportation federations and labor unions in which the 
parties agreed to coordinate a series of protests. 
 
¶8.  Protests by FALPO and the Alternative Social Forum last 
week turned violent. One protester was shot dead, presumably 
by police, and multiple police and protesters were seriously 
injured. Protesters were demanding the construction of public 
works, such as highways, that the government had allegedly 
promised to their communities; an end to electricity 
blackouts; and a lower ("more just") fee structure for 
electricity and other basic services. Leftist organizations 
have promised to take to the streets alongside drivers and 
union members in a protest scheduled for Wednesday, March 14, 
and have threatened to intensify their protests if the 
government does not respond favorably. 
 
------------------------------ 
LABOR UNIONS -- THE WILD CARD? 
------------------------------ 
¶9.  Labor unions are perhaps the wild card in these 
proceedings. About once a year representatives from umbrella 
labor organizations such as the National Labor Unions Board 
(CNUS) meet with representatives from umbrella private sector 
groups like the National Private Entrepreneurs, Council 
(CONEP) to discuss increases in the minimum wage. These 
meetings are generally overseen by the government's National 
Committee on Salaries (CNS), which issues binding resolutions 
to private sector employers mandating compliance with the 
terms of agreements that are reached. 
 
¶10.  This year labor organizations have demanded a 30 percent 
wage hike for all private sector employees earning up to 
30,000 pesos (USD 1,000) per month -- a cap that includes a 
significant number of workers paid wages well above the 
minimum of 6,400 pesos (USD 200) per month. They say that 
such a raise is needed in order to bring salaries in line 
with losses to inflation. Employers have offered to raise the 
minimum wage only by 9.3 percent. Union representatives, led 
by Rafael Abreu of the CNUS, have held several failed 
negotiations with private sector groups.  Unions say they are 
willing to negotiate the exact amount of the raise, but they 
are adamant that any agreement also include those who earn 
above the minimum. Employers say that wage increases for 
those earning above the minimum are outside the legal scope 
of their discussions. As of COB March 13, private sector and 
union representatives remained in last-minute negotiations 
mediated by Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, rector of the 
Pontifical Catholic University Mother and Teacher (PUCMM). 
 
¶11.  Labor union representatives also signed the March 8 
agreement, promising to cooperate with transportation groups 
and community groups in protests and strikes. Such 
cooperation is unusual. Large-scale strikes are rarely, if 
ever, successfully orchestrated by organized labor groups, 
and organized labor generally does not cooperate in such a 
manner with the transportation syndicates. Rafael Abreu, 
Vice-President of CNUS, said that the groups shared 
"transitory coincidences" that were amplified by the 
government's poor fiscal policy. 
 
¶12.  However, the cooperation between these groups would 
appear to present some benefits to all. For the 
transportistas, an alliance with labor unions will serve to 
reinforce the impression that they are advocating for the 
 
 
 
interests of all poor Dominicans, rather than only for their 
own parochial ones (a cynical view shared by most 
Dominicans). For labor unions, the cooperation will bring 
heightened publicity. Unions are generally unpopular in this 
country, and it is unknown whether a call to strike would be 
heeded. By coordinating activities with other groups, unions 
may find their members more likely to respond; even if they 
do not, by piggy-backing with other groups, the strike would 
be less likely to be seen as a failure. 
 
---------------- 
PLANNED PROTESTS 
---------------- 
¶13.  Protest activities will begin with a March 14 march to 
the " Torre Empresarial" office building in Santo Domingo. 
Labor unions, transport federations and leftist organizations 
say they will lead an escalating series of strikes and 
demonstrations over the ensuing weeks, to culminate in a 
national call to strike, until their demands are met. 
 
¶14.  Diandino Pena insists that the government will not 
negotiate under duress. Officials say they have armed police 
prepared to stop protesters with teargas, and they are not 
afraid of the work stoppages that transportistas have 
threatened. Of course, officials from President Fernandez's 
administration made similar statements both times they were 
threatened with such strikes in the past. In the end, on both 
occasions, it was President Fernandez who blinked first. 
 
HERTELL