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RR RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHMT RUEHPOD RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHME #2625/01 2392106
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 262106Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3072
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 002625 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILSCR, CA/VO, WHA/MEX, USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB CVIS EAGR PGOV SOCI PINR MX
SUBJECT: UNDERLYING PROBLEMS RESURFACE IN PEMEX WORKERS UNIONS 
 
REF: (A) 06 MEXICO 5720 (B) MEXICO 3993 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: Recently a group of some 40 dissidents within the 
Petroleum Workers Union (STPRM), the sole union for Mexico's 
national oil company, Pemex, briefly took over the offices of the 
labor organization's national headquarters.  The dissidents said 
they took over the union headquarters as a protest against the 
corruption and abuse of power of the STPRM's national leader, Carlos 
Romero Deschamps, and to demand his removal from office. Roughly 
four hours after taking over the union's offices the dissidents were 
violently expelled from the premises by armed supporters of Romero 
Deschamps.  The dissidents' action and the subsequent reaction by 
Romero Deschamps is the latest outbreak in an ongoing quarrel over 
the results of a disputed union election held over two years ago 
(Ref A).  The dissidents have repeatedly appealed to the GOM to 
annul the results of that election and to remove Romero Deschamps 
from office but so far to no avail.  The GOM's position is that 
Romero Deschamps was legally elected to office in accordance with 
relevant labor laws and those same laws must be followed to remove 
him from office.  This GOM position is somewhat disingenuous since 
it has, at its convenience, removed duly elected union leaders from 
office on various previous occasions.  Some labor observers suspect 
the GOM is reluctant to remove Romero Deschamps because he has so 
far been able to keep the STPRM on the sidelines and out of the 
current heated national debate over energy reform in Mexico.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
 
¶2.  In late 2005, the National Executive Committee of Mexico's 
Petroleum Workers' Union (STPRM), the sole union for the national 
oil company, Pemex, convoked an "Extraordinary Convention" to elect 
a replacement for the organization's leader, Secretary General 
Carlos Romero Deschamps.  This previously unscheduled convention was 
a particularly unusual event since, at that time, Romero Deschamps 
still had over a year left in his term of 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 leader's 
mandate. 
 
¶3.  It is unclear what prompted the need for this early election but 
speculation at the time by a dissident faction of the STPRM, known 
as the National Alliance of Petroleum Workers, claimed Romero 
Deschamps' early re-election was prompted by the fear of a Party of 
the Democratic Revolution (PRD) victory in Mexico's July 2006 
presidential campaign.  At the time of the early union election the 
PRD presidential candidate looked to be the sure winner in the race 
to become Mexico's next president.  A PRD 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 winner of the presidential election with a 
fait accompli. 
 
¶4. According to one of Mexico City's major daily newspapers there 
were some eight serious irregularities in Romero Deschamps' 
re-election as STPRM Secretary General.  A partial list of these 
irregularities 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 a plan to elect a new Secretary General.  The 
paper claimed that the only persons allowed to vote at the 
convention were handpicked friends of Romero.  Numerous GOM 
Secretariat of Labor officials were at the convention in violation 
of ILO convention #87.  Romero Deschamps himself presided over the 
entire process of the convention which, from start to finish, was 
completed in a record three and one half hours.  The results of this 
election were immediately contested in the courts by at least two 
dissent groups within the STPRM but were ultimately upheld in 
mid-2006. 
 
 
THE REASONS BEHIND THE DISSIDENTS' PROTESTS 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. Since being reelected as the national leader of the STPRM Romero 
Deschamps has faced an ongoing series of protests from dissidents 
within the union who refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of his 
mandate. For the most part these protests took place away from the 
public eye.  Intra-unions disputes are fairly common in Mexico and 
the vast majority of them do not receive significant media coverage 
 
MEXICO 00002625  002 OF 003 
 
 
or public attention.  When it initially began the STPRM intra-union 
dispute was something of an exception to this norm because of the 
importance of the political and economic role that Pemex plays in 
Mexico.  Ultimately, however, public attention to the quarrel 
dropped off dramatically once the courts upheld Romero Deschamps' 
reelection in mid-2006.  Reduced media coverage notwithstanding, the 
reasons behind the dispute are still very much alive. 
 
¶6.  According to what a member of the STPRM told Mission Labor 
Counselor, one of the main reasons the dissidents view Romero 
Deschamps' reelection as illegal is that it violates the union's 
previously established policy of term limits.  Reportedly, STPRM 
statues only allow for three consecutive six-year terms of office. 
Romero Deschamps' is now serving his fourth term as STPRM Secretary 
General because of a rule change specifically enacted to allow him 
to remain in office.  The dissidents argue that the rule change was 
illegal because it was never put to a vote by the entire union 
membership as required by STPRM statues. 
 
¶7.  The presumed illegality of Romero Deschamps' reelection, from 
the dissidents' perspective, was like salt in a wound in that it 
served to make a bad situation worse.  Whatever the merits of Romero 
Deschamps original election as STPRM leader nearly 20 years ago 
during his time in office the Petroleum Workers Union gained a 
reputation for being one of the most corrupt labor organizations in 
Mexico.  It has been widely reported in the press (and relayed to 
Labor Counselor from various sources both in and out of the STPRM) 
that under Romero Deschamps it is now common practice for people 
seeking employment with Pemex to have to pay STPRM officials larges 
sums of money for the privilege. Something not as widely reported, 
perhaps because it is not yet as widely practiced, is a requirement 
in some STPRM locals that workers kick back a portion of their 
salaries to union officials.  The pay and benefits package of 
Pemex/STPRM workers are so generous that many job seekers willingly 
pay whatever is asked to get themselves or a family member on the 
national petroleum company's payroll. 
 
¶8.  In addition to the above mentioned abuse of job seekers and 
actual employees the dissidents also claim that Romero Deschamps and 
his supports regularly abuse basic worker rights.  The dissidents 
claim elections for union official positions are normally staged and 
only persons approved by Romero Deschamps or senior supporters are 
ever allowed to win.  Romero Deschamps and his supporters in the 
STPRM control five of the eleven seats on Pemex's administrative 
board of directors.  These seats give the current leadership of the 
union enormous influence in the hiring and promotion of rank and 
file workers.  Moreover, because of these seats the STPRM reportedly 
receives two percent of the costs of all outside contracting done by 
Pemex and a similar percentage of the costs of all drilling 
operations.  The STPRM leaders' control over hiring and promotions 
as well as their vast financial resources has, according to the 
dissidents, allowed them to intimidate or buy off anyone who 
challenges their authority or disagrees with their decisions. 
 
 
DISCONTENT BOILS OVER 
--------------------- 
 
¶9.  For all of the above reasons a group of some 40 dissidents 
recently took over the offices of the STPRM's national headquarters. 
 The dissidents said their action was a protest against the 
corruption and abuse of power of STPRM's national leader, Carlos 
Romero Deschamps, and a demand for his removal from office.  The 
take over by the dissidents was immediately reported to the Mexico 
City police where news of the event was picked up by a reporter who 
called his newspaper and several colleagues from other media outlets 
to advise them of what was taking place. 
 
¶10.  One of the dissidents' many complaints against Romero Deschamps 
is that when intimidation and bribes fail to quell opposition to his 
leadership he routinely employs violence to get his way.  This was 
certainly the case in this instance where, four hours after the 
dissidents took over the STPRM offices; over 200 supporters of 
Romero Deschamps appeared to take back the premises.  According to 
reporters who quickly arrived on the scene the Romero Deschamps 
supporters arrived visibly armed with clubs and pistols. 
Approximately 20 minutes later the dissidents had been violently 
expelled from the STPRM offices reportedly on the direct orders of 
Romero Deschamps.  The reporters on the scene noted that the 
dissidents were beaten and bloody by the time they were forcibly 
expelled from the STPRM offices. There is no indication that the 
police, who clearly knew of the occupation of the STPRM offices, 
ever showed up to compel the dissidents to leave or to in anyway 
 
MEXICO 00002625  003 OF 003 
 
 
prevent or mediate the violence that ensued once the supports of 
Romero Deschamps arrived on the scene. 
 
 
DISSIDENTS APPEAL IN VAIN TO GOM FOR REDRESS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  The day following the take over by the dissidents of the STPRM 
offices both they and the union filed charges and counter-charges 
against each other with the appropriate judicial authorities.  The 
dissidents accused Romero Deschamps and his supporters of assault; 
for their part the STPRM accused the dissidents with criminal 
trespass.  Later that same day the dissidents held a press 
conference where they again called for Romero Deschamps' expulsion 
from leadership of the STPRM and appealed to Mexican President 
Felipe Calderon to make this happen. 
 
¶12.  President Calderon did not respond directly to the appeal from 
the dissidents.  However, his Secretary of Labor, Javier Lozano 
Alarcon, did address the matter of the STPRM intra-union dispute in 
response to specific questions from the press. Secretary Lozano made 
it clear that the GOM had no basis legally for removing Romero 
Deschamps from his position as head of the STPRM.  According to 
Secretary Lozano, Romero Deschamps was elected to office in 
accordance with relevant labor laws and a legal challenge to his 
election was dismissed by the courts.  Continuing on, the Labor 
Secretary said that those same laws must be followed in order to 
remove the STPRM leader prior to the end of his term of office. 
(Note: Legally an elected and officially recognized labor leader can 
be removed from office at any time if he/she is convicted of a 
felony charge or if the union holds elections to remove one leader 
by electing another.) 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶13.  The Petroleum Workers Union (STPRM) is one of the most 
important labor organizations in Mexico.  It has at least 100,000 
members, it has vast financial resources and it is a member of the 
Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the largest labor federation 
in the country.  Carlos Romero Deschamps is a member of the CTM's 
National Executive Committee and, on paper at least, is the next in 
line to become the national leader of the CTM.  Romero Deschamps has 
a long term working relationship with President Caldron dating back 
to before his presidential election when he worked in the previous 
administration as the government's Secretary of Energy. 
 
¶14.  One of the most prominent and emotionally charged priorities of 
the Calderon administration is a major legislative overhaul of 
Mexico's energy sector.  Energy reform is a hotly debated topic in 
Mexico and is currently being debated at almost all levels of 
Mexican society.   The GOM is looking for allies to help sell its 
proposals to the Mexican congress and people.  Thus far the STPRM, 
which could theoretically bring a great deal of information, for 
good or ill, into any discussion of energy reform, has remained 
quiet and completely outside of the debate.  This studied "no 
comment" stance by the STPRM may well be one of the reasons why the 
Calderon administration has taken a hands-off approach to the 
ongoing dispute within the Petroleum Workers Unions. 
 
¶15.  For all of his faults, many labor observers recognize that 
Carlos Romero Deschamps and his supporters have maintained 
repressive but firm control over the STPRM. This control is being 
used to keep the union out of the energy reform debate and this fact 
cannot have gone unnoticed by the Calderon administration. 
Consequently, when the GOM's Secretary of Labor says that Romero 
Deschamps was legally elected to office in accordance with relevant 
labor laws and those same laws must be followed to remove him from 
office the government is being somewhat disingenuous.  The GOM has, 
at its convenience, found ways to remove duly elected union leaders 
from office on various previous occasions.  It could well be that 
the GOM has chosen to remain aloof from the STPRM intra-union 
dispute because there is no legal basis for it to do otherwise. 
However, it is just as possible that the GOM is prepared to overlook 
allegations against Romero Deschamps as long as he ensures that the 
STPRM stays away from the ongoing national debate on energy reform. 
 
 
GARZA