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RR RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHMT RUEHNG RUEHNL
RUEHQU RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC
DE RUEHME #0838/01 0821814
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231814Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5734
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
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 000838 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILSCR, WHA/MEX, USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PHUM PGOV SOCI PINR MX
SUBJECT: SOCIAL SECURITY WORKERS, UNION CONTEMPLATES 
CHANGING LABOR AFFLIATION AND POLITICAL PARTY ALLIANCE 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  Mexico,s the National Union of Social Security 
Workers (SNTSS) is contemplating changing its labor 
affiliation and has already moved to chance its political 
party connections.   The SNTSS is a member of the National 
Workers Union (UNT), Mexico,s second largest labor 
federation.  The UNT claims to be independent in that it has 
no formal ties to any political party but in fact it is 
closely linked to the PRD, Mexico,s main opposition party in 
Congress.  Following multiple press reports on the SNTSS, 
pondered change, its leader ultimately stated that a final 
decision on the matter would not be made until the union,s 
October 2009 national convention.  Officially the SNTSS 
stated that it may leave the UNT because of disagreements 
with the federation over how to promote the interests of 
Mexico,s workers.  However, it appears more likely that the 
SNTSS leadership grew tired of being part of a labor 
organization that it does not control and it is now clear 
that Mexico,s two main opposition political parties engaged 
in a bidding war to win the union,s support for the 
country,s July mid-term elections.  With some 400,000 active 
members and another 150,000 retirees who still retain 
substantial union rights, the SNTSS is the second largest 
public service union in Mexico.  The SNTSS describes itself 
as an &independent8 union free to operate in the best 
interests of its members.  In practice it is run exactly like 
Mexico,s less progressive unions in that the leadership is 
not openly elected, the union resists all efforts to account 
for its use of public funds or membership dues and it shows 
surprisingly little interest in defending internationally 
recognized worker rights.   END SUMMARY. 
 
 
BACKGROUND ON THE PLAYERS 
 
¶2.  The National Union of Social Security Workers (SNTSS) is 
the labor organization that represents the public service 
employees who staff Mexico,s national health care system. 
With some 400,000 active members and another 150,000 retirees 
who still retain substantial union rights, the SNTSS is the 
second largest public service union in Mexico.  The only 
public service union larger than the SNTSS is the National 
Teachers, Union (SNTE) which reportedly has approximately 
one million members.  In the past, the SNTSS was one of the 
many unions in Mexico formally linked to the country,s 
former ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party 
(PRI).  When the PRI lost power in 2000 the SNTSS saw a 
considerable drop in its influence and began looking around 
for other options. 
 
¶3.  The option it chose was to join the National Workers 
Union (UNT).  The UNT is a federation of unions who are 
officially independent in that they have no formal ties to 
any political party.  In reality the UNT is closely linked to 
what is now Mexico,s main opposition party; the Party of the 
Democratic Revolution (PRD).  When the SNTSS joined the UNT 
the size of its membership catapulted the organization into 
the position of being the second largest labor federation in 
Mexico.  Despite joining the UNT the SNTSS initially 
maintained its official links to the PRI.  However, in the 
run up to Mexico,s 2006 presidential elections the SNTSS 
broke with the PRI and effectively joined its fellow UNT 
unions in supporting the PRD. 
 
¶4.  The main incentive for the SNTSS, break with the PRI was 
an offer from the PRD of several choice spots on its list of 
proportionally elected Federal Deputies.  Proportionally 
elected officials are persons nominated by a political party 
to hold elected office without having to subject themselves 
to the possibility of defeat in an electoral campaign.  As it 
turns out the PRD,s candidate lost the 2006 presidential 
election and the party ultimately reneged on its promise to 
place several SNTSS members in the national legislature as 
Federal Deputies. 
 
 
RUMORS THAT SNTSS IS CHANGING SIDES 
 
¶5.  In late 2008 rumors began circulating in Mexican labor 
circles that the SNTSS was contemplating changing its labor 
and political party affiliation.  According to the rumors the 
SNTSS was considering leaving the UNT and severing its 
unofficial but nevertheless very real links to the PRD.  By 
 
MEXICO 00000838  002 OF 003 
 
 
February 2009 multiple press reports were describing SNTSS, 
contemplated changes as a done deal.  Ultimately, however, 
the SNTSS,s Secretary General, Valdemar Gutierrez Fragoso, 
declared that a final decision on the matter would not be 
made until the union,s October 2009 national convention. 
According to Gutierrez the SNTSS, national leadership was 
not pressing for a withdrawal from the UNT.  It was, he said, 
only responding to the wishes of the union,s membership to 
explore better ways to promote their interests. 
 
¶6.  Continuing on, Gutierrez stated that the SNTSS membership 
believed it might be best for the union to leave the UNT 
because of disagreements with the federation over how to best 
promote the interests of Mexico,s workers.  Gutierrez 
averred that at one time the UNT was a unified organization 
dedicated to promoting the interests of the workers.  Now the 
UNT has lost its focus and as each day passed the 
federation,s associate unions were more interested in 
working for their individual benefits than they were in 
advocating on behalf of all workers.  It was this lack of 
focus and loss of unity in promoting the welfare of ordinary 
workers, Gutierrez stated, that was prompting the SNTSS, 
members to contemplate leaving the UNT. 
 
 
WORKER RIGHTS OR UNION LEADERS, POLITICAL GAINS 
 
¶7.  Secretary General Gutierrez, expressions of concern for 
the workers notwithstanding, both his past behavior and that 
of the SNTSS leadership, call into question the sincerity of 
their declarations.  Rather than moving to leave the UNT 
because of concern over a lack of focus in defending worker 
interests it appears more likely that the SNTSS leadership 
simply tired of being part of a labor federation that it does 
not control.  Moreover, it now clear that Mexico,s two main 
opposition political parties, the PRD and the PRI, engaged in 
a bidding war to win the union,s support for the country,s 
July mid-term elections. 
 
¶8.  The SNTSS describes itself as an &independent8 union 
free to operate in the best interests of its members.  In 
practice however, the SNTSS is anything but a shining example 
of a free and democratic union.  As a part of the UNT the 
SNTSS enthusiastically jointed in public criticisms of the 
discredited and often corrupt practices of some of Mexico,s 
less progressive unions.  At the same time the SNTSS, own 
actions steadily reinforced its own reputation as a labor 
organization whose leadership gained power through rigged 
elections,  as a union that resists all efforts to account 
for its use of public funds or membership dues and one that 
has shown surprisingly little interest in defending 
internationally recognized worker rights. 
 
¶9.  In responding to media inquiries about the SNTSS,s 
possible departure from the UNT, Secretary General Gutierrez 
has repeatedly stated that the union made a mistake in 
severing its ties with the PRI if favor of the PRD.  He 
openly confirmed that in recent months the SNTSS had held 
talks with both the PRI and the PRD that essentially 
bargained the union,s support for this year,s mid-term 
elections in July.  The union leader also acknowledged that 
the former had made the SNTSS a better offer than the latter. 
 
¶11.  According to Gutierrez, the PRI not only offered to name 
at least two high level SNTSS officials as Federal Deputies, 
it also promised to open its ranks so that union members at 
the state level could compete internally within the party for 
nominations as candidates for positions as mayors, city 
council members and state legislators.  For its part the PRD 
offered the SNTSS the possibility of competing in its 
internal processes for electoral offices in Mexico City,s 
legislative body, a PRD stronghold.  Unfortunately for the 
PRD, the degree of support offered and the number of 
potential spots being made available to the SNTSS could not 
compare with what the PRI was prepared to offer the union 
nationally. 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶12. On paper the SNTSS is still a part of the UNT but its 
ties to that labor federation are fairly tenuous.  Because of 
 
MEXICO 00000838  003 OF 003 
 
 
this tentative loss of the SNTSS the UNT has now effectively 
fallen into third place among Mexico,s national level labor 
federations.  Mexico,s largest labor federation is, and has 
always been, the PRI affiliated CTM (Confederation of Mexican 
Workers).  The UNT,s tentative fall to third place among 
national labor organizations automatically elevates the PRI 
affiliated CROC (Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and 
Peasants) from the number three spot that it has occupied 
almost since the UNT was formed.  With the SNTSS, return to 
the PRI fold it can now argue that it is better positioned to 
represents the interests of Mexican workers than any other 
national political party.  Ironically, a case can be made 
that the PRD and the unions affiliated with it are more 
likely to promote internationally recognized worker rights 
than the PRI or its affiliated unions.  The PRI has rarely 
taken a strong stand on worker rights as that term is defined 
internationally.  Traditionally the PRI has been much more 
concerned with helping unions operate with as little 
adaptation to changing times as possible.  For its part the 
PRD has not always been willing to force its affiliated 
unions to live up to their progressive rhetoric on worker 
rights but at least it does recognize that doing things the 
way they have always been done is not in the best interests 
of Mexican workers. 
 
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http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
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