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RR RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHQU
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DE RUEHME #1132/01 1061645
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151645Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1450
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MEXICO 001132 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILCSR, WHA/MEX, USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV SOCI PHUM PINR MX
SUBJECT: CROC MEETING IN MONTERREY MENDS SOME POLITICAL 
FENCES, GIVES OVERVIEW OF LABOR MOVEMENT AND REELECTS 
NATIONAL LEADER 
 
 ¶1. Summary: On April 4-5, the CROC (Revolutionary 
Confederation of Workers and Campesinos) held its 55 th 
National Council Meeting in the northern Mexican industrial 
city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.  The CROC is perhaps the third 
largest labor federation in the country and its Monterrey 
meeting was attended by the leader of Mexico,s former ruling 
party, a Senior GOM labor official, the governor of the Nuevo 
Leon and representatives from the two largest labor 
federations in the United States.  The highlights of the 
Monterrey meeting were the presence of the head of Mexico,s 
former ruling party who sharply criticized the GOM,s 
performance with regard to economic growth and job creation, 
and the voice vote re-election of the CROC,s national 
leader, Isais Gonzalez Cuevas.  During his acceptance speech 
Gonzalez Cuevas presented a general overview of some of the 
problems facing Mexico,s organized labor such as company 
controlled or &White Unions8, fake unions which exist only 
on paper and disunity among the various elements of the 
country,s labor movement.  The CROC leader went out of his 
way to highlight the cited lack of unity among labor 
federations.  His mention of the problem of disunity among 
labor unions is interesting because he was discussing a 
situation made significantly worse by some of his own 
actions.  End Summary. 
 
 
CROC HOLDS NATIONAL MEETING IN MONTERREY 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  The CROC (Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and 
Campesinos) held its 55th National Council Meeting in the 
northern Mexican industrial city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon on 
April 4-5.  Although the meeting was attended by delegates 
from the 32 state organizations that make up this national 
labor federation the star of this particular show was the 
CROC,s national leader, Isais Gonzalez Cuevas.  The meeting 
was at times a raucous event during which the delegates and a 
variety of invited participants attended round tables 
discussions on a broad range of social and labor related 
issues.  Some of the issues discussed included topics like 
global warming, combating drug addiction, domestic violence, 
social security (a term used in Mexico to refer to both 
health care and pension issues), economic development and 
productivity, and dealing with issues of child labor. 
 
¶3.  The CROC is perhaps the third largest labor federation in 
Mexico. In recent years the CROC has adopted a philosophy it 
calls &social unionism8 which might be more accurately 
described as &socially responsible unionism.8  This 
philosophy holds that unions should not only concern 
themselves with traditional labor issues but should also 
attempt to address the topics that workers face during the 16 
hours of the day when they are not at their jobs.  For 
example, the CROC has been particularly active in combating 
the commercial sexual exploitation of children.  Their 
efforts in this area have, at various times, been supported 
with limited funding from both USAID and the US Department of 
Labor. 
 
 
SPECIAL INVITEES 
---------------- 
 
¶4.  In addition to the thousands of union delegations from 
across Mexico who attended the convention, the CROC event was 
also attended by a number of high profile special invitees. 
Among the invitees in attendance was Nuevo Leon,s Governor, 
Natividad Gonzalez Paras, the ILO representative in Mexico, 
an Undersecretary from the GOM,s Secretariat of Labor 
(STPS), US representatives from the AFL-CIO and from the 
Service Employees 
International Union (SEIU), personnel from AmConsul Monterrey 
and Mission Mexico,s Labor Counselor.  The organizers of the 
Monterrey meeting made every effort to underscore the 
attendance of all the special invitees but labor the 
federation appears to have made a special effort to highlight 
the presence Beatriz Paredes Rangel, the national leader of 
Mexico,s former ruling party, the Institutional 
Revolutionary Party (PRI). The attendance Beatriz Paredes was 
a significant event for the CROC; serving as clear sign that 
the party and the union have agreed to put past differences 
behind them. 
 
MEXICO 00001132  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
 
THE CROC MENDS POLITICAL FENCES 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  In 2006, for reasons largely attributed to personal 
ambition, the CROC,s national leader decided to support the 
presidential candidacy of PRD (Democratic Revolutionary 
Party) nominee Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.  Since the time 
of its formation 1952, the CROC has been formally affiliated 
with the PRI and has always supported the party,s 
presidential nominees.  However, just a few months before 
Mexico,s July 2006 presidential election Gonzalez Cuevas 
decided not to support the PRI candidate and instead chose to 
endorse the PRD,s nominee.  Ultimately, Gonzalez Cuevas, 
decision was not enough to help the PRD win but many in the 
PRI believe his actions were responsible for the PRI,s fall 
from being Mexico,s opposition party to being the smaller of 
its two main opposition parties. 
 
¶6.  Relations between the CROC and the PRI have not been the 
same since July 2006.  This cooling of relations between them 
has been an issue the two organizations did little to 
overcome until very recently.  Last month, on March 4, PRI 
national leader Paredes invited Gonzalez Cuevas to the 
party,s 79th anniversary celebration and gave him a 
prominent spot on the presidium.  Gonzalez Cuevas apparently 
reciprocated by inviting Paredes to the CROC,s Monterrey 
meeting and allowing her to make a formal speech at the event. 
 
¶7.  According to press reports, while Paredes, speech 
forcefully promoted issues important to Mexican organized 
labor it also took numerous swipes at the GOM,s currently 
ruling National Action Party (PAN).  Paredes sharply 
criticized Mexico,s weak economic growth under the former 
and current PAN administrations.  She was reminded those 
present that the previous PAN administration had said it 
could generate an economic growth rate of 7 percent a year 
yet never came anywhere near that figure (actual average 
annual grow rate was 2.3 percent).  The PRI leader then 
pointed out that while running for office Mexico,s current 
president promised to be the &employment president8.  Thus 
far, Paredes underscored, Mexican workers were still waiting 
to see even a fraction of the 1.3 million jobs the country 
needs annually to keep up with the number of people entering 
the job market. 
 
 
CROC LEADER RE-ELECTED 
---------------------- 
 
¶8.  The main event at the CROC,s Monterrey meeting was the 
re-election of the labor federation,s national leader Isaias 
Gonzalez Cuevas. Gonzalez Cuevas, re-election nomination was 
made (reluctantly it appears; see Septel) by the Secretary 
General of the CROC in Nuevo Leon, Agustin Serna Sevin. Nuevo 
Leon,s CROC leader called for the re-election of Gonzalez 
Cuevas as the surest way to continue supporting the various 
elements of the labor federation,s &social unionism8 
philosophy.  Serna Sevin also indicated that Gonzalez 
Cuevas, continued leadership as the CROC,s national leader 
would help promote unity within the labor federation. 
 
¶9.  Isais Gonzalez Cuevas, was re-elected for four more 
years.  The election itself was carried out by a &yea or 
nay8 voice vote.  There were no other candidates nominated 
nor any opportunity for others who might have been interested 
in running for the office of CROC national leader to step 
forward.  Gonzalez Cuevas, re-election process would not 
have met even the broadest definition of what the 
international community generally refers to as a free, open 
and democratic union election.  However, the process was a 
fairly common and widely accepted method used by Mexican 
labor unions which, in theory, negotiate internally when 
electing or re-electing prior to the holding of a national 
convention. 
 
 
CROC LEADERS SAYS MEXICAN LABOR UNIONS IN CRISIS 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶10.  According to media reports, Isaias Gonzalez Cuevas used 
 
MEXICO 00001132  003 OF 004 
 
 
his acceptance speech to present an overview on the state of 
organized labor in Mexico.  In this overview the CROC leader 
reaffirmed what many other observers of Mexican labor have 
stated before; namely that Mexico,s labor movement is in a 
state of crisis.  Gonzalez Cuevas firmly rejected exaggerated 
suggestions that organized labor in Mexico might be fatally 
wounded but he did make clear that there were real problems 
in the movement that needed to be addresses. Three of the 
most widespread ills cited by the CROC leader were (a) the 
problem of company controlled unions, (b) protection 
contracts and (c) outsourcing. 
 
¶11.  Company controlled unions are a particularly pervasive 
phenomenon in Nuevo Leon and other parts of north Mexico 
where the region,s private sector has created its own 
company friendly/controlled unions; often referred to as 
&White Unions.8  These &White Unions8 have been used to 
keep more traditional unions from growing too large or from 
being too aggressive (from the private sector,s perspective) 
in contract negotiations or at promoting worker rights (from 
the labor union,s perspective).  The organizations that form 
these company friendly unions can, and have been used to 
supplant more traditional unions in a wide variety of 
collective bargaining situations. 
 
¶12.  Gonzalez Cuevas next turned to the issues of protection 
contracts and outsourcing.  Unlike the phenomena of &White 
Unions8 the problems of protection contracts and outsourcing 
are not, comparatively speaking, limited to a particular 
geographic region of Mexico.  Protection contracts are used 
to create unions which only exist on paper.  Once 
established, the holders of these contracts are views by GOM 
labor authorities as legal representatives and bargaining 
agents of the workers.  Companies that employ protection 
contracts often do so with the active support and collusion 
of a legitimate Mexican labor federation and use them to 
dictate salaries, and collect a cash portion of a workers 
wages and benefits. Gonzalez Cuevas called on the GOM and 
Mexico,s organized labor movement to do everything possible 
to eliminate protection contracts. In discussing outsourcing 
the CROC leader described it as a harsh tool blatantly used 
by some to circumvent Federal Labor Laws with regard to job 
cut backs and mandatory benefits.  That said, he conceded 
that outsourcing was a reality in today,s global economy. 
Gonzalez Cuevas urged the GOM to establish some minimum 
levels of government regulation of outsourcing in order to 
give workers a basic level of labor rights and protections. 
 
 
A CALL FOR UNINTY 
----------------- 
 
¶13.  A major element of the CROC leader,s overview of the 
problems of Mexico,s organized labor movement was the 
emphasis he placed on the difficulties cause by a lack of 
unity amount Mexican labor federations.   In commenting on 
this problem Gonzalez Cuevas pointed out that a lack of labor 
unity was one of the main reasons why only about 7 million 
workers in Mexico are unionized out of the more than 40 
million in the country who are economically active.  Gonzalez 
Cuevas called for greater unity among Mexico,s labor 
federations as a way of promoting and protecting the 
interests of the country,s workers.  The CROC leader,s 
comments were noteworthy not just because, from labor,s 
perspective, they are true but rather because he himself has 
significantly contributed to the problems of labor disunity. 
 
¶14.  In 2006 when Gonzalez Cuevas supported the PRD and not 
the PRI candidate for president many said he did so because 
the former ruling party did not back his bid to be the 
president of a major national labor umbrella organization. 
Since his failed bid to lead this umbrella organization, 
Gonzalez Cuevas has directed the CROC not to participate in 
numerous labor actions or events organized by other PRI 
affiliated labor organizations.  His calls for labor 
federation unity notwithstanding, just days after the end of 
the CROC,s Monterrey meeting the federation announced that 
once again it would not participate in the officially May 1 
celebrations traditionally held by PRI affiliated labor 
federations. 
 
 
 
MEXICO 00001132  004 OF 004 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶15.  The CROC,s Monterrey meeting was a useful event for the 
labor federation as it provided a very public forum to show 
that the organization was mending its fences with the PRI. 
This will be important in the days ahead as it would give the 
CROC an opportunity to be heard by the party as the GOM works 
with the Mexican congress in the current session of the 
legislature on such matters as labor and energy reform.  The 
presence at the event of representatives from American labor 
federations (AFL-CIO and SEIU) was also a plus for the CROC 
as a sign that labor organizations in both countries are 
attempting to coordinate their activities.  These two items 
are positive accomplishments for the CROC.  However, in terms 
of promoting worker interests, it would have been even better 
for the CROC if the organization had begun to act on its own 
call for greater labor unity in Mexico. 
 
 
¶16.  This message was cleared by AmConsul Monterrey. 
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 / 
GARZA