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RR RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHMT RUEHNG RUEHNL
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DE RUEHME #3289/01 3112111
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 062111Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3874
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 003289 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILSCR, WHA/MEX, USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV SOCI PINR MX
SUBJECT: NATIONAL TEACHERS UNION: HANDING OUT HUMMERS WHILE 
ROME BURNS 
 
REF: (A) MEXICO 2948 (B) MEXICO 2877 
 
¶1.  Summary:  In recent weeks Mexico has experienced growing 
discontent among the state level Locals of the National 
Teachers Union (SNTE) against the &Alliance for Quality 
Education8 agreement signed this past May between the GOM 
and the union,s national leadership (Ref A).  The goal of 
the agreement is to improve the quality of public school 
education by upgrading teacher skills, increasing teacher 
professionalism and investing more heavily in improving 
school infrastructure.  Dissatisfaction over how the GOM and 
SNTE planned to accomplish these goals has resulted in 
protests marches, strikes that have closed schools for 
extended periods and increasingly large demonstrations in 
nearly half of Mexico,s 31 states.  In some cases these 
protests became so unruly that military force was used to 
contain them.  The seriousness of this labor/education crisis 
notwithstanding, in mid-October the president of the SNTE 
handed out 59 Hummer SUV,s as gifts to the leaders of loyal 
union Locals during the close of a national union conference. 
 The estimated value of these vehicles is USD 40,000 each. 
The Hummers were apparently purchased using union funds so, 
technically speaking, no laws were broken in their 
acquisition.  Nevertheless, this blatant flaunting of union 
wealth at a time of fierce dissention within the SNTE sparked 
a massive public outcry.  In response to this sharp public 
uproar the SNTE said that it would raffle off the vehicles 
and use the proceeds to help schools in poor districts.  The 
SNTE leadership,s inability to anticipate the public 
reaction to handing out luxury vehicles as party favors has 
been pointed to by labor observers and opposition politicians 
as an example of how the GOM allows allied unions to put 
their special interests above those of the country.  Some 
even speculate that the SNTE,s ill-advised action could 
endanger the first serious GOM effort at education reform in 
many years.  End Summary. 
 
 
BACKGROUND ON PROTEST OVER EDUCATION REFORM 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  In recent weeks Mexico has experienced numerous 
large-scale protests by dissidents within the state level 
Locals of the National Teachers Union (SNTE) against the 
&Alliance for Quality Education8 (ACE).  The ACE (Ref B) is 
an agreement signed this past May between the GOM and the 
SNTE,s national leadership whose goal is to improve the 
quality of public school education by upgrading teacher 
skills, generally increasing teacher professionalism and 
investing more heavily in improving school infrastructure. 
The discontent has resulted in protests marches, strikes that 
have closed schools for extended periods and increasingly 
large demonstrations in nearly half of Mexico,s 31 states. 
In early October the protests in the state of Morelos became 
so unruly that military force was used to clear blocked roads 
and disburse violent demonstrators. 
 
¶3.  The dissidents within the Locals assert that they are 
protesting against an agreement imposed on them by the 
union,s national leadership and the GOM without their 
consent.  In addition, the dissidents claim they are seeking 
to defend such legitimate labor rights as the right to freely 
determine the leadership of their state level Locals.  These 
noble assertions notwithstanding, numerous press reports cite 
the GOM, the SNTE national leadership and even statements by 
the dissidents themselves which indicate that the protestors 
are really seeking to undo the provisions of the ACE that 
would require prospective teachers to take an entrance 
examine for hiring and promotions and which would prohibit 
current teachers from selling their positions or passing them 
on as an inheritance.  In addition to their opposition to the 
ACE the dissidents have also called for the removal of SNTE 
national President, Elba Ester Gordillo Morales.  Gordillo is 
a controversial figure in Mexican organized labor and 
politics who is often accused of being more interested in 
furthering the interests of a corrupt union than in dealing 
with the many problems facing the country,s public school 
system. 
 
 
SNTE NATIONAL CONFERENCE BECOMES AN EARLY CHRISTMAS 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
 
MEXICO 00003289  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶4.  Partly as a result of these protests the SNTE union 
leadership held an Extraordinary National Council two-day 
meeting in the northern border state of Sonora in mid-October 
to discuss the circumstances of the ongoing labor/education 
crisis.  The meeting was attended by the heads of SNTE state 
level Locals and assorted members of their staffs.  Also in 
attendance were the members of the union,s National 
Executive Committee and a mixed group of high-level members 
of the New Alliance Party (PANAL). PANAL is the political 
party founded by SNTE President Elba Ester Gordillo in 2006 
when, to some extent, she broke with the PRI (Institutional 
Revolutionary Party), Mexico,s former party. 
 
¶5.  The main focus of the meeting was a reaffirmation of the 
SNTE leadership,s commitment to fully implement the terms of 
the ACE agreement reached with the GOM,s Secretary of Public 
Education (SEP).  This commitment included a reaffirmation of 
the decision to hire prospective teachers via a process of 
competitive entrance examinations and to prohibit current 
teachers from selling their positions or bequeathing them as 
an inheritance (Ref A).  The meeting was also used to discuss 
STNE budget proposals for education in 2009 (five billion 
pesos) and to report on the current state of the unions 
finances. 
 
¶6.  The report on the state of the union,s finances provided 
the perfect note on which to close the council meeting.  The 
council report firmly underscored that the finances of the 
SNTE were excellent and further highlight that point union 
president Gordillo presented the leaders of the state level 
locals with an early Christmas gift; all 59 of the state 
union leader received a brand new Hummer H-3 sport utility 
vehicle.  The purchase price of each vehicle was 
approximately USD 40,000 apiece.  When handing out the 
Hummers Gordillo noted that although the vehicles were for 
model year 2009 they were the most basic showroom editions 
available.  Elba Ester Gordillo was specifically quoted in 
several national newspapers as lamenting the fact that she 
was not able to have the vehicles armored at the time of 
purchase.  Needless to say the recipients of the Hummers were 
duly impressed with their leader,s generosity and were 
quoted, according to the press, as referring to her as 
&Santa Elba Claus.8 
 
 
BLISTERING PUBLIC AND OPPOSITION PARTY REACTION 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7.  The reaction of the public, press and members of the 
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Mexico,s main 
opposition party was one of shock and outrage.  No matter the 
source the reactions were the same: sheer disbelief!  The 
near unanimous comments from every quarter of Mexican society 
expressed anger and condemnation that the SNTE would be 
handing out Hummers like party favors at a time when the 
country,s public school system was in crisis and rank and 
file teacher holding protests and occasionally violent 
demonstration throughout much of the country. 
 
¶8.  Mexican labor unions are used to being publicly 
criticized and as a rule they are rarely influenced by such 
denigration.  SNTE president Gordillo is famous for her lack 
of concern over public opinion on issues related to the union 
or public education. This time, however, things were 
different.  For whatever reason, within 48 hours of the close 
of the SNTE council meeting in Sonora, Gordillo and her top 
lieutenants were all back tracking in the press on the topic 
of the Hummers.  SNTE Secretary General, Rafael Ochoa Guzman 
went to great lengths to repeatedly state that the Hummers 
were completely purchased with unions funds. 
 
¶9.  Gordillo herself quickly announced that the Hummers were 
not the personal property of the SNTE Local leaders 
themselves but rather the property of the union.  She 
indicated that the vehicles had been purchased so that union 
leaders would have safe and reliable transportation to visit 
schools in Mexico,s more remote districts.  She then 
announced that as a gesture of solidarity with the country,s 
poorest school districts the Hummers would be raffled off 
with the receipts going to help ten of these districts. 
Gordillo attempted to imply that the Hummers were never gifts 
but rather that they had always been intended as raffle 
prizes.  There is no evidence to indicate that anyone in any 
 
MEXICO 00003289  003 OF 003 
 
 
part of Mexico accepted this claim at face value. 
 
 
LABOR AUTONOMY TAKEN TO EXTREMES 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  Mexico,s constitution guarantees the right of autonomy 
to labor unions to manage their internal affairs in any way 
they see fit.  The purpose of this constitutional guarantee 
was to provide workers with protections for the right to 
freedom of assembly. Unfortunately, over time, union autonomy 
has been used to draw a veil over a variety of activities 
that might not always be considered ethical.  In this 
particular case, the fact that the union paid for the Hummers 
with its own funds is something that it had every legal right 
to do.  The union,s right to use its own funds for the 
purchase of SUVs was publicly affirmed by a GOM spokesman at 
the Secretary of Public Education (SEP). 
 
¶11.  Labor observers in the Mexican media pounced on the 
example of the Hummers as a perfect example of the corruption 
and moral bankruptcy that exists in the country,s organized 
labor movement.  Labor leaders in Mexico frequently proclaim 
that union autonomy protects the rights of workers to manage 
their own internal affairs.  Moreover, they regularly assert 
that labor autonomy does not mean an absence of 
accountability.  What it does mean, they claim, is that they 
are answerable only to their fellow union members.  If these 
assertions were ever really true, there is currently (again) 
no evidence to indicate that anyone in any part of Mexico 
accepts them at face value. 
 
COMMENT 
-------- 
 
¶12.  Many labor observers and opinion makers in Mexico have 
expressed concern that the SNTE leadership,s excess in 
handing out SUV,s could have broader implications beyond 
internal union affairs.  The idea of education reform has 
wide support across a broad spectrum of Mexican society and 
there is genuine.  Given that dissident teachers across 
Mexico are protesting the reform effort embodied in the ACE, 
labor observers are concerned that public discontent towards 
them and now the SNTE leadership could undermine that reform 
initiative.  Legally speaking, the SNTE leadership had every 
right to purchase the 59 Hummers and hand them out as gifts. 
However, being legal is a totally separate issue from public 
perceptions of what is proper or what is right.  Mexico,s 
public education system is badly in need of reform and 
handing out luxury SUVs, even if they are the cheaper off the 
floor models, distracts from the efforts needed to make these 
reforms a reality.  The leadership of the SNTE has not been 
held in high regard in Mexico for some time and its decision 
to sign off on the ACE could have been an opportunity to 
change its image and gain public support for education 
reform.  It is very unfortunate that first the striking 
teachers and now the SNTE leadership itself have both put 
narrow special interests ahead of a much needed public good. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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