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DE RUEHME #5367/01 2822025
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 092025Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9152
RUEHRS/AMCONSUL MATAMOROS 1916
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MEXICO 005367 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR INL/C (BROWNE/CORDOVA), DRL/AWH AND ILCSR, WHA/MEX 
FOR DDARRACH, AND DOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB SNAR PGOV ECON PINR SOCI MX
SUBJECT: MISSION MEXCIO POSTS HOLD FOLLOW-UP MEETINGS WITH 
UNION, PRIVATE SECTOR AND GOVERNMENT ON DRUG ABUSE IN THE 
WORKPLACE 
 
REF: MEXICO 4114 
 
MEXICO 00005367  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  In September, AmConsul Matamoros and Embassy 
Mexico City,s Labor Counselor held separate follow-up 
meetings aimed at coordinating actions to combat abuse in the 
workplace.  These follow-ups were the promised next steps to 
a discussion began on July 20 when AmConsul Matamoros hosted 
a gathering whose primary goal, in addition to opening a 
discussion on the problems of drug abuse in the workplace, 
also sought to increase areas of cooperation between the CTM, 
(Mexico,s largest labor federation) and the USG (Reftel). 
The first follow up meeting took place in Matamoros on 
September 7; the second in Mexico City on September 27.  The 
follow-up meeting in Matamoros included a large number of 
government participants (federal, state and local) as well as 
a significant number of labor representatives from a variety 
of unions.  The federal government participants informally 
indicated that the GOM was prepared to participate in what 
the CTM hopes will develop info a broad bi-national 
initiative but with a special focus along the US/Mexico 
border.  The September 27 meeting established a de facto 
executive committee to review and expand on the Matamoros 
agreements.  This meeting also proposed a tentative list of 
places (not all of them restricted to the border) where a 
Matamoros type model agreement could be or was already in the 
process of being established.  (Though various suggestions on 
how to proceed with the pilot program were raised, it was 
decided to move forward with efforts to document existing 
programs and local community efforts and wait until a future 
meeting to determine the long-range and short-range goals of 
the program.)  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
BACKGROUND ON UNION/USG COOPERATION 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  In recent months AmConsul Matamoros personnel and Mission 
Mexico,s Labor Counselor have worked together to promote the 
idea of a more institutionalized relationship between the USG 
and one of Mexico,s larger labor organizations, the 
Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM).  The CTM is perhaps 
the largest federation of labor unions in Mexico and is 
roughly equivalent to the US, AFL-CIO.  A significant step 
forward in the effort to promote Union/USG cooperation 
occurred on July 20 when AmConsul Matamoros hosted a meeting 
largely organized by the CTM,s Social Welfare Office 
(Reftel).  The intent of this meeting was to discuss ways to 
support the CTM,s Social Welfare Office,s efforts to deal 
with the issue of drug abuse in the workplace. 
 
¶3.  Drug abuse in the workplace is a growing problem in 
Mexico where most observers, including those in the labor 
sector, now acknowledge that Mexico is both a drug transit 
and a drug consuming country.  Various aspects of the 
problems of drug abuse in the work place include such issues 
absenteeism, increases in job related accidents, lost 
productivity, theft of company property, violence and drug 
trafficking on company property.  In addition to the above 
issues, the American Chamber of Commerce,s Human Resources 
and Labor Committee indicates that many employers are now 
confronting the dilemma of simultaneously dealing with two 
very different drug problems; (1) substance among executives 
(who use stimulants to gain a competitive edge at the office) 
and (2) substance abuse among lower level workers (who use 
depressants to numb themselves so they can get through the 
work day). 
 
¶4.  The July 20 meeting ultimately developed beyond just a 
gathering of USG and CTM officials to include a Mexican 
government representative, an official of a concerned NGO and 
the Matamoros President of CANACINTRA (a business alliance 
roughly equivalent to the US, National Association of 
Manufacturers) representing the private sector.  During the 
course of that meeting the group settled on the idea of a 
multidisciplinary project to address the problems of drug 
abuse in the workplace involving unions, the private sector 
and the governments of the US and Mexico supporting the 
 
MEXICO 00005367  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
initiative as appropriate.  At the end of the meeting the 
Mexico City CTM official conferred with the participants to 
work out the next steps in the initiative.  The first thing 
everyone agreed on was the need for a follow-up meeting to 
set realistic goals.  The participants also wanted to ensure 
that whatever they attempted would not be duplicative of 
ongoing efforts of other organizations or government agencies 
related to the problems of drug abuse.  The follow-up meeting 
was set for August 14. 
 
 
INITIAL FOLLOW-UP MEETING IN MATAMOROS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  The idea of a multidisciplinary project involving unions, 
the private sector and the governments of the US and Mexico 
to examine the problems workplace drug abuse caught the 
attention of a large number of GOM actors many of whom wanted 
to be involved.  The growing number of potential participants 
forced the previously scheduled August 14 meeting to be 
postponed until September 7.  This growing number of 
interested GOM players also prompted an increase in the 
number of non-GOM actors who wanted to learn about the 
initiative.  Ultimately close to 40 different federal, state, 
local and various union and private sector participants 
attended the meeting. 
 
¶6.  The various participants and/or government 
representatives at the September 7 Matamoros meeting were as 
follows: 
 
GOM Federal: 
 
Sub-Director for Border Issues of the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs (SRE); 
Director of the Public Security Secretariat,s (SSP) Crime 
Prevention Office; 
Director of Work Equality for Women and Minors, Secretariat 
of Labor (STPS); 
Director of Sustainable Development and Gender Equality, 
National Institute of Women, INM; 
Director General of the Center for Youth Integration (CIJ, a 
parastatal agency affiliated with the Secretariat of Health); 
Director of Sectoral Coordination, Secretariat of Health (SS); 
 
Tamualipas State Government: 
 
Director, Office of Employment, Office of the Governor of 
Tamualipas; 
President of DIF, Tamualipas (Family Welfare Agency); 
State Secretary of Public Security; 
State Secretary of Public Education; 
Director of CERESO (State Prison); 
Director of CIPAD (State Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse 
Treatment); 
 
Local Union, Government and Private Sector Representatives: 
 
Secretary General, CTM Regional Office, Matamoros; 
 
SIPDIS 
President of Maquiladora Association of Matamoros; 
Secretary General, Telephone Workers Union; 
 
SIPDIS 
Secretary General, Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) 
 
SIPDIS 
Workers Union; 
Secretary General, Union of Maquiladora and Assembly Industry 
 
SIPDIS 
Workers; 
Secretary General, Union of Industrial Workers of Maquiladora 
 
SIPDIS 
Plants; 
Representatives of the Union of Day Laborers and Workers of 
the Maquiladora Industry (SJOIIM); 
 
 
President of DIF, Matamoros (Family Welfare Agency); 
Municipal Secretary of Public Security, Matamoros; 
 
President of CANACINTRA; 
President of COPARMEX (Mexican equivalent US Chamber of 
Commerce); 
 
 
MEXICO 00005367  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
Also in attendance was AmConsul Matamoros, Principal 
Officer, the Chief of the Consular Section, the Economic 
coned ELO assigned to the project, the Coordinator of CTM 
Social Welfare Office in Mexico City and a representative 
from CTM,s main office in the neighboring state of Coahuila. 
 
¶7.  The main accomplishment of the Matamoros meeting was the 
establishment of an executive committee to coordinate with 
the other agencies and organizations interested in the 
Matamoros model agreement.  The members of this committee are 
the President of CANACINTRA, Matamoros, the Secretary General 
of the CTM Regional Office in Matamoros and AmConsul 
Matamoros Principal Officer.  During the course of the 
meeting it soon became apparent that many of the ideas for 
combating drug abuse in workplace were already being carried 
out piecemeal (with significant human resources in some 
cases) but with little real coordination.  All the meeting 
participants agreed to look for ways to reach across the 
border to US organization dealing with drug problems in the 
workplace.  They also decided to give a prominent role in 
their activities to those organizations capable of making 
this initiative known to both the labor and non-labor sectors 
of the local society. 
 
 
THE MEXICO CITY FOLLOW-UP 
------------------------- 
 
¶8.  In comparison to the Matamoros meeting, the September 27 
follow-up in Mexico City was a modest affair.  The meeting 
was organized by the CTM,s Social Welfare Office and was 
attended by representatives from the National Institute of 
Women (INM), the Secretariats of Health and Labor (SS and 
STPS respectively), the National Institute of Psychiatry 
(INP) and Mission Mexico,s Labor Counselor.  After a review 
of the results of the September 7 meeting the participants at 
the Mexico City gathering discussed the idea of adopting 
how-to manual recently produced by the INP as the focus of 
efforts to combat workplace drug abuse. 
 
¶9.  The INP manual, entitled &Alcohol and Drugs in the 
Workplace: A Manual for Prevention8 provides step by step 
instructions for developing a drug abuse prevention program. 
The manual starts with an overview of the drug abuse problem 
in Mexico, then lays out the basics for implementing the 
components of a prevention program and ends with a practical 
guide for evaluating the results of the program.  The general 
consensus was that by using the INP manual as a common guide, 
all the actors interested in addressing the problem of drug 
abuse in the workplace would be starting from the same place 
and following a shared plan of action. 
 
¶10.  Over the course of the Mexico City meeting, the need for 
a common plan of action became increasingly clear as the 
various actors laid out their different institutional 
positions.  For example the INM made clear that its main 
interest was in providing assistance to women workers who may 
have drug problems.   The Labor Secretariat representative 
indicated that the STPS was interested in assisting all 
workers (young or old, men or women) but that it was not 
particularly interested in focusing its efforts on the 
border.  Instead the STPS representative indicated that her 
agency planned to focus its efforts on assisting workers 
employed in Mexico,s tourist industries in places like 
Merida, Cancun (in AmConsul Merida,s consular district), as 
well as in Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta (AmConsul 
Guadalajara,s consular district).  For its part the CTM 
indicated that it planned to continue its efforts at or near 
the border with a particular emphasis on places with nearby 
USG consulates like AmConsul Matamoros, AmConsul Hermosillo 
and Saltillo (part of AmConsul Monterrey,s consular 
district).  Mission Mexico,s Labor Counselor offered to 
advise the relevant USG offices of both CTM and STPS 
activities in their consular districts related to the effort 
of combating drug abuse in the workplace.  At present the CTM 
appears most interested in (A) being able to count on the 
moral leadership of the USG in supporting this initiative and 
(B) being able to leverage that moral leadership as it works 
 
MEXICO 00005367  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
to establish contacts and gain material support on the US 
side of two countries, common border. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11.  If the presence of so many different actors at the two 
meetings to discuss the problem of workplace drug abuse is 
any indication, this initiative to increase Union and USG 
cooperation seems to be gaining momentum.  Although the 
different GOM agencies have their own clearly stated 
priorities, a broad range of Mexican authorities are now 
aware of the initiative and tacitly given it a go-ahead to 
proceed.  At this point the initiative is still very much in 
the talking stage and a great deal remains to be done before 
any concrete results can be obtained in the area of dealing 
with workplace drug abuse.  That said, and regardless of the 
differing priorities of the various GOM agencies, the 
majority of other actors such as the unions, the private 
sector, the NGOs and the state and local governments 
contacted, all appear willing and eager to support the 
initiative as originally planned by Mission Mexico personnel 
and the CTM. 
 
 
¶12.  This message was cleared by AmConsul Matamoros. 
 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
BASSETT