VZCZCXRO6642
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0806 3491402
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 151402Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0964
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000806 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ML
SUBJECT: MALI'S SECOND LARGEST UNION LEFT OUT IN THE COLD 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Peter Newman, Embassy Bamako, 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.(C) Summary: On November 12, President Amadou Toumani Toure 
(ATT) signed a decree naming 58 members to the Economic, 
Social, and Cultural Council (CESC), one of the 
constitutionally created institutions of the Malian 
government.  Not one of the 58 members came from the list 
submitted by the Confererated Union of Malian Workers (CSTM), 
notwithstanding three Supreme Court rulings that the union's 
exclusion is against the law and government reassurances it 
would adhere to the rulings.  End Summary. 
 
2.(U) The Malian Constitution created the Economic, Social, 
and Cultural Council (CESC) to serve in an advisory capacity 
to the government, similar to the U.S. President's Council of 
Economic Advisors.  Although the CESC has failed to leave its 
mark on Malian democracy (see septel), the right to seats on 
the council has been the source of a serious dispute between 
the government and Mali's second largest umbrella labor union 
association, the Confederated Union of Malian Workers (CSTM). 
 CSTM, created in 1997, feels entitled to seats on the CESC 
based on a 1992 law establishing that the 12 seats on the 
CESC reserved for labor must be distributed among "the most 
representative labor union associations."  In 2002, 2007, and 
2008, the Supreme Court of Mali ruled that the use of the 
plural for "associations" in the statute forbids the 
government from distributing all 12 labor union seats on the 
CESC to one labor union alone.  Notwithstanding the court 
orders, the government has consistently offered all 12 labor 
union seats on the CESC to Mali's largest labor union 
association, the National Union of the Workers of Mali 
(UNTM), to the exclusion of CSTM. 
 
3.(C) The 2002 Supreme Court decision declared void the 
decree that named members to the 1999-2004 term of the CESC. 
Considering the CESC as then constituted illegal, the 
National Assembly refused to hear the 2003 report offered by 
the institution.  ATT calmed the waters by signing a new 
decree stating, in effect, that in the future members would 
be named from more than one labor union association.  In 
September 2004, however, ATT named 12 members of UNTM to fill 
the 12 seats for labor on the CESC. 
 
4.(C) Following the 2007 and 2008 Supreme Court decisions 
declaring ATT's September 2004 appointments illegal as 
inconsistent with both the underlying law and his 2003 
decree, CSTM was contacted by the Minister of Labor and asked 
to submit a list of candidates for the 2009-2014 term of the 
CESC.  In a December 7 meeting with PolOff, CSTM 
Secretary-General Hammadoun Amion Guindo stated that in 
October 2009, Prime Minister Modibo Sidibe had proposed that 
six seats would be given to UNTM, four to CSTM, and two to 
independent unions.  On October 22, however, the Prime 
Minister called Guindo to say that because professional 
elections had never been organized for any labor union, the 
government did not know the relative strength of each labor 
union association.  Therefore, Sidibe said, all 12 seats 
would be assigned to UNTM. 
 
5.(C) In Guindo's view, the decision was "purely political." 
Guindo argues that there are historical links dating from the 
struggle for democracy between UNTM and both former President 
Alpha Oumar Konare and ATT.  Guindo believes ATT is simply 
more comfortable working with one labor union with which he 
enjoys excellent relations.  CSTM is currently engaged in 
contacting National Assembly Deputies to request the National 
Assembly's assistance, although it is pessimistic about the 
prospects for National Assembly intervention in this instance. 
 
MILOVANOVIC