AUT: Mex Labor News, March 2, Part 2

[Dan La Botz <103144.2651@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

      PART II: THE STATE OF THE FEDERATIONS: CT, CTM, UNT, CIPM

                     UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR
                MAY FIRST INTER-UNION FEDERATION
      =

                        by Sam Smucker

      The May First Inter-Union Coordinating Committee (CIPM)
 increasingly faces difficulties caused by internal disputes, a
 lack of clear organizational focus, and its marginalization by
 the larger new labor federation, the National Union of Workers
 (UNT).

      The CIPM was formed in May of 1995 as a coordinating
 committee between independent unions, democratic opposition
 groups within unions, peasant leagues, neighborhood
 organizations, and poor people's groups. Originally its purpose
 was to coordinate the organization of the May 1st demonstration
 in Mexico City. Later it served to build popular support for a
 number of strikes and other workers' struggles. During its first
 two years of existence it served as an important explicitly
 anti-capitalist voice for unionists and a permanent base of
 support for workers struggles and democratic union caucuses.

      Important unions participating officially in the CIPM
 include the Authentic Workers Front (FAT), Union of Workers of
 the National Autonomous University of Mexico(STUNAM) and the
 Autonomous University of Mexico (SITUAM), National Council of
 Labor (CNT), the Union of Workers of La Jornada (SITRAJOR) and
 the United Union of Fish Workers (SUTPESCA). With the exception
 of the SITUAM, the above unions also are members of the UNT.

      Union Sections and Democratic Currents include Locals 9 and
 10 of the Nation Teachers Union (SNTE), and democratic caucuses
 within the Revolutionary Federation of Workers and Peasants
 (CROC), Petroleum Workers, Social Security Workers, Musicians and
 Telephone workers. =


      Another important organization is the Independent
 Proletarian Movement (MPI) which is closely identified with the
 Route 100 bus workers union (SUTAUR). The May First Federation
 actually formed around SUTAUR's two-year struggle to preserve the
 jobs and the union of the Route 100 workers, after the former
 mayor of Mexico City privatized the bus line and attempted to
 destroy the independent union.

      Differences Between Unions and Neighborhood Groups

      Recently, differences between established unions
 organizations on the one hand and union currents and the
 neighborhood organizations on the other have limited the ability
 of the CIPM to grow and function. The division has been
 exacerbated by the increasing prestige of the new reformist
 federation, the UNT. Almost all of the CIPM unions participate in
 the UNT as official members. But the CIPM refuses to participate
 as an organization, viewing the UNT as too conservative, and its
 leader Francisco Hernandez Juarez as too opportunistic and self-
 aggrandizing.

      Reportedly, on several occasions, the unions have been
 harshly criticized for their participation in the UNT by the
 non-union organizations. Some of the top leaders of the UNT--such
 as Francisco Hernandez Juarez, General Secretary of the Telephone
 Workers Union (STRM) and Antonio Rosado, General Secretary of the
 Social Security Workers Union (SNTSS)--are often bitterly
 criticized at CIPM meetings for their anti-democratic practices
 and political allegiances. Most often these criticism emanate
 from workers who belong to democratic currents within these
 unions.

      Several union representatives told MLNA that the unions feel
 increasingly marginalized inside the CIPM as their proposals for
 structure and long-term strategy are consistently voted down by
 the non-union organizations. The CIPM's structure is a weekly
 meeting and a kind of steering committee, responsible for
 carrying out the decisions of the weekly meetings. There are also
 ad-hoc working groups which were set up during the October 1997
 National Convention to propose an official structure for the
 organization and to deal with particular problems or issues. =


                Democracy or Disorganization? =


      Currently, the CIPM has no dues system or structure of
 representation among its member organizations, in other words,
 whoever shows up at the weekly meetings is allowed to vote on
 CIPM policy. Consequently, the CIPM has no financial resources,
 except the money that union organizations donate for particular
 projects.  =


      The non-union organizations argue that the CIPM must resist
 any attempt to impose a vertical and authoritarian structure.
 They insist that current practices are horizontal, democratic,
 flexible and unbureaucratic. They vehemently resist any attempt
 to turn the CIPM into an independent union confederation rather
 than a coordinating body.

      Long term goals of the CIPM, as officially determined in the
 October 1997, include building the CIPM outside of Mexico City
 (the CIPM now exists in Jalisco as well as Mexico City),
 spreading the word about the organization among working people,
 supporting the struggle of the democratic caucus and working
 toward a general reorientation of Mexican labor organizations.   =


                               ###

                     THE UNT THREE MONTHS LATER:
                          WHAT'S BEEN DONE

      The National Union of Workers (UNT) was founded in November
 of last year as an alternative to the Congress of Labor (CT).
 What has the UNT undertaken and accomplished since its founding? =

      Without a doubt, the most important point is that the UNT
 has established itself and now exists as an alternative
 organizational and ideological pole in the Mexican labor
 movement. While for many years the CT and the Confederation of
 Mexican Workers (CTM) virtually monopolized all discussion and
 debate about unions and workers, today the existence of the UNT,
 and to a lesser extent of the May First Inter-Union Coordinating
 Committee (CIPM) provide political alternatives for unions and
 workers.

      Still the question arises, how real are the organizational
 and ideological differences between the CT and the UNT? The UNT
 was originally organized around three fundamental ideas: 1) an
 end to corporativism, that is the PRI-government's domination of
 the union movement; 2) greater democracy within the labor unions;
 3) an alternative economic program. Other issues clearly on the
 agenda include modification of the North American Free Trade
 Agreement (NAFTA), the reform of the Federal Labor Law (LFT) and
 the issues of the "New Labor Culture" promoted by the World Bank,
 the PRI, and the employers. What has the UNT done about these
 issues so far?

                 Independence from the PRI?

      While the UNT may be formally independent of the PRI, its
 leaders such as Francisco Hernandez Juarez of the Telephone
 Workers Union also remain leaders of the PRI. Hernandez Juarez, a
 member of the PRI's Political Council, recently commented that he
 believes that the PRI has the best political cadres and many
 possibilities, though he is critical of the PRI president Mariano
 Palacios Alcocer for failing to help the PRI recapture the
 confidence of its base. =


      Hernandez Juarez said that he expects more discontent and
 new splits from the PRI if the situation can't be changed. But
 Hernandez Juarez speaks as a PRI loyalist concerned about splits
 in the ruling party--not as a radical critic looking forward to
 them. =

                       Union Democracy?

      In terms of greater democracy within the unions, the UNT's
 rhetoric of union democracy may help in some sense to promote
 democratic movements. But what we have heard about at least one
 UNT leader's practice undermines the UNT's claims. UNT leader
 Antonio Rosado (STRM), general secretary of the National Union of
 Workers of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (SNTSS), has
 been strongly criticized for undemocratic practices in his union.

      Members of Local 33 of the SNTSS claim that their general
 secretary Eduardo Rodriguez Lopez is a "union boss" who has
 carried out "corrupt, gangster, anti-democratic acts, completely
 lacking in union ethnics and consciousness," and that he did so
 with the support of or at the instigation of UNT leader Rosado. =


      Local union officers and workers accuse Rodriguez Lopez of
 sending union goons to seize the local treasury and destroy
 documents, while holding innocent bystanders captive. Local union
 officers believe that Rodriguez Lopez may have illegally spent
 millions of pesos from the local treasury. Rosado, they argue, as
 head of the union, has failed to call Rodriguez Lopez to account,
 and moreover has supported him. Rosado has said the union
 statutes prevent him from taking action in the case.

      This is no small matter. SNTSS Local 33 represents 23,000
 workers from clinics and hospitals in the Valley of Mexico, one
 of the union's most important locals. Since those events, the
 workers have formed a Democratic Current, which, with the support
 of the left-wing May First Inter-Union Coordinating Committee
 (CIPM), has challenged both Local chief Rodriguez Lopez and SNTSS
 and UNT leader Rosado. Whatever the facts of the matter, Rosado's
 failure to respond to local officers and investigate the matter,
 does not speak well of union democracy and responsibility in the
 SNTSS and the UNT.

                Alternative Economic Program?

      On economic issues, the UNT has spoken up for workers. The
 UNT protested vehemently against the PRI-government's 14 percent
 wage increase this year, and called for the creation of a
 national mobilization in defense of the workers' wages. But the
 UNT's national mobilization has so far been mainly a mustering
 slogans, a campaign of words. The UNT has called for the
 abolition of the National Minimum Wage Commission (CNSM), and has
 gone to Supreme Court to have the 14 percent wage increase
 declared unconstitutional. The Mexican Constitution's Article 123
 says workers are entitled to a living wage. =


      The UNT has also proposed to the Congress of Labor (CT) and
 the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) a joint May Day march
 for higher wages. All of this is fine and good, but the UNT's
 attack remains mainly verbal: there have been no militant mass
 marches, no national work stoppages, no strikes to back the
 demand for a living wage.

                     New International Ties

      In terms of foreign relations, the UNT has established new
 international ties, meeting recently with John Sweeney of the
 American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations
 (AFL-CIO). The UNT and the AFL-CIO agreed to undertake a campaign
 to modify and reform the North American Free Trade Agreement
 (NAFTA). Hernandez Juarez quoted as telling a Mexican newspaper
 that the UNT and the AFL-CIO will take advantage of the coming
 elections in the U.S. and that "surely President Bill Clinton
 will given us his backing." Perhaps Sweeney exaggerated his
 influence in the White House, or maybe Hernandez Juarez doesn't
 understand U.S. politics. =


           New Labor Culture and the Reform of the LFT

      While the Congress of Labor and the Confederation of Mexican
 Workers have boosted the "New Labor Culture" of cooperation
 between management and unions, Hernandez Juarez has rejected this
 particular version of cooperation at least verbally, saying that
 the New Labor Culture does not offer tangible solutions for the
 contemporary world of work. Still Hernandez Juarez and the
 Telephone Workers Union have their own version of cooperation
 with the employer--in their case the Mexican Telephone Company,
 TELMEX--in a form of union-management "partnership." =


      The UNT has indicated that it will support reform the
 Federal Labor Law (LFT), but so far has not released its specific
 proposals. One indication of the UNT's slant may be found in the
 agreement reached on February 11 between the Federation of Unions
 of Enterprises of Goods and Services (FESEBES) and the Mexican
 Employers Confederation (COPARMEX). Hernandez Juarez, the
 principal leader of the UNT is also the moving force in FESEBES. =


      The FESEBES-COPARMEX agreement promises to seek a
 "consensual, non-partisan" reform of the Federal Labor Law aiming
 to reform the law and improve productivity. Alejandra Barrales,
 head of the Flights Attendant Union and of FESEBES, said that the
 agreement with COPARMEX represented an historic step, an
 agreement reached between employers and workers without the
 tutelage of the government.

      After three months, the UNT seems to be setting a course:
 somewhat more independent from the PRI, though not completely so
 by any means; an advocate of union democracy, though not
 necessarily always an example of it; an opponent of the current
 economic policy, though without a clear alternative; an opponent
 of state-unionism, but tending toward business unionism and
 management-union partnership. But we are only three months along,
 in the infancy of the new organization. =

      =

                               ###
           =

           ON THE EVE OF RODRIGUEZ ALCAINE'S RE-ELECTION
              CTM UNDER ATTACK FROM VARIOUS QUARTERS

      As the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the most
 important labor federation in the Congress of Labor CT),
 approaches its 13th national Congress on March 7 and 8, it has
 come under attack from various quarters. But its leader Leonardo
 Rodriguez Alcaine remains unperturbed as he heads for an almost
 assured and perhaps unanimous re-election.

      Rigoberto Ochoa Zaragoza, the governor of Nayarit invited to
 a meeting of the labor federation in his home state in February,
 embarrassed Rodriguez Alcaine and the CTM by speaking out about
 union leaders who had enriched themselves at the expense of the
 workers. "We've had a number of those," he said. Present company
 excluded, of course, he didn't know if Rodriguez Alcaine had
 gotten rich.

      ANAD Calls CTM: Authoritarian, Anti-Democratic, Corrupt

      At the same time the National Association of Democratic
 Attorneys (ANAD) carried out an analysis of the CTM's statutes,
 and issued a report saying that the federation was authoritarian,
 anti-democratic, and corrupt.

      ANAD's report said that the CTM statutes put inordinate
 power in the hands of the general secretary, making him virtually
 omnipotent. Oscar Alzaga, president of ANAD, also criticized the
 CTM because it does not elect its leadership by a secret, direct
 and universal vote. In fact, there are no rules governing the
 method of voting for officers.

      Further, the democratic attorneys criticized Article 64
 which says that CTM members must belong to the Institutional
 Revolutionary Party (PRI). The official unions requirement that
 their members affiliate with the PRI has been seen as a pillar of
 the corporative system of state-control over the unions.

      Finally, ANAD argued that the CTM statutes which authorize
 accepting contributions from government functionaries and
 government institutions, represents "a clear form of corruption."

                     Who Pays the Bills

      But then raising money is a problem. Luis Velazquez Jacks,
 treasurer of the CTM and the nephew of the late CTM chief Fidel
 Velazquez, reported in February that twenty percent of the state
 federations and national unions have not paid their CTM dues for
 1997, and many still owe dues for 1996 and 1996. =


      The failure of its affiliates to pay their organizational
 dues, currently set at 10 pesos per month per member, has long
 been a problem for the federation, and has led the organization
 into economic dependence on the Institutional Revolutionary Party
 and the Mexican state which have for decades given secret
 subsidies to the CTM.  =


      But the CTM has no serious economic problem, says Velazquez
 Jacks, since the organization has 100 million pesos in cash in
 various banks earning interest.

      Incidentally, Velazquez Jacks, accused of trafficking in
 labor union "protection contracts," that is sub-standard
 contracts offered to employers without the workers' knowledge,
 said he would not resign from the CTM.

              Rodriguez Alcaine Continues His Rant

      Meanwhile, the CTM's general secretary Leonardo Rodriguez
 Alcaine has toured the country, rounding up votes for his re-
 election. While doing so, he continued to rant and rave against
 his betes noires. Rodriguez Alcaine, joining the government's
 xenophobic and racist campaign, called the Zapatista guerillas
 and the four-year-old Chiapas uprising of Mayan Indian peasants,
 "a creation of foreigners." He also lashed out at Manuel Camacho
 Solis, the former mayor of Mexico City expelled a while back from
 the PRI, saying he was "crazy, resentful and sick for power." =


      At the same time, Rodriguez Alcaine reiterated his support
 for the PRI's president, Mariano Palacios Alcocer.

      Having collected the support of dozens of unions and CTM
 organizations, Rodriguez Alcaine is expected to be re-elected
 without opposition at the March 7 National Congress for a two-
 year term. =

                             ###

                   CONGRESS OF LABOR AT 32:
                THE CRISIS OF OFFICIAL UNIONISM

      The Congress of Labor (CT), the organization that brings
 together all of Mexico's "official" labor federations, that is
 those historically loyal to the ruling Institutional
 Revolutionary Party (PRI), turned 32 year old on February 18--but
 for the first time in its history there was no ceremony and no
 celebration. The mood at the CT is rather like that at an
 intensive care unit, where one is not sure whether the patient
 will live or die, whether one should thank the doctor or call the
 priest.

      Hector Valdes Romo, president of the CT, says, "The Congress
 of Labor is going through a crisis of survival." He adds, "Either
 we will overcome the obstacles and carry the organization
 forward, or we will bury it in the junkyard of history."

                Immediate Causes of the Crisis

      The immediate causes of the crisis of the CT are many:

      *The January 1994 Chiapas Uprising led by the Zapatista Army
 of National Liberation (EZLN) which opened a period of political
 crisis in Mexico. =


      *President Zedillo's 1994 peso devaluation, leading to a
 stock market collapse and depression which devastated the economy
 and caused hardship among workers and peasants.

      *The June 1997 death of Fidel Velazquez, 40-year head of the
 Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), man and the organization
 that had dominated the CT since its founding.

      *The July 1997 victory of the opposition parties over the
 Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the Congressional
 elections, making the PRI a minority for the first time in its
 history, together with the victory of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the
 Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the race for mayor of
 Mexico City.

      *The August 1997 departure of six organizations from the
 Congress of Labor, which in November 1997 joined with scores of
 other to found the National Union of Workers (UNT), as a rival to
 the CT.

      Taken together these developments have worked to break the
 bonds that once connected the PRI to the CT, the CT to its member
 federations and unions, the those unions to the workers. The
 economic, social and political stress of the last few years
 cracked the beams and broke the bolts that held the CT together.
 Now, like a house that was hit by a tornado, one wonders whether
 it will hold up, or if it will all suddenly collapse into a mass
 of splintered lumber, broken furniture, tattered flags and old
 photographs.
                          A New Direction?

      On the union's thirty-second birthday, CT head Valdes Romo,
 has laid out a series of proposals which he thinks might just
 salvage the federation. =


      First, Valdes Romo, calls for an honest re-examination of
 the federation. "We have lost credibility," he says, "because we
 have failed the workers, because we have said one thing, and done
 another." The CT leader has proposed a forum for discussion,
 analysis, and self-criticism. =


      Second, the CT leader will establish new organizational
 structure, opening offices in every Mexican state and territory. =


      Third, Valdez Romo calls for a dialogue between the CT and
 UNT and other labor organizations. "The things we have in
 common," he says, "are much greater than our differences." Valdes
 Romo proposes that the CT and the UNT can march together on May
 1, Mexico's traditional labor day, without conflict.

      Fourth, the CT chief calls for pushing forward the "new
 labor culture," defining it as respect for workers, co-
 participation in industry, and a more just distribution of the
 benefits.

      In addition, the CT now proclaims its political independence
 from the PRI. CT leader Enrique Aguilar Borrego, head of the bank
 workers, claims that "corporativism [state-party control of the
 unions] and the obligation to join the PRI is now history. The CT
 is undergoing a transformation from a political to a union
 organization." CT spokesperson Jesus Ernesto Moreno Morales
 recently announced that the CT will respect its members political
 preferences and party loyalties, and will no longer attempt to
 channel the workers' vote to the Institutional Revolutionary
 Party (PRI).

      But the problem is that while within the CT Valdes Romo
 represents reform, Leonardo Rodriguez Alcaine, head of the CTM,
 stands for reaction. Rodriguez Alcaine continues to support the
 PRI, to attack the UNT, and to resent any changes in the old way
 of doing things. =


      The real question is does Valdes Romo have the desire and
 will to overcome the CT's historical burden of statism. Given the
 organization's history, the chances are slim.
      =

                 With the Blessing of the State

      The CT grew out of efforts in the 1950s and 60s to unify
 Mexico's more conservative labor organizations. In 1955, several
 unions merged to form the Worker Unity Block (BUO), the first
 step in the creation of a unified union movement. Then, on
 November 20, 1965, Mexico's rival labor federations and unions
 convened the National Revolutionary Assembly of the Proletariat,
 in order to unify the union movement. Out of that assembly came
 the founding on February 18, 1966 of the Congress of Labor,
 established with the blessing of Mexican President Diaz Ordaz. =


      The CT became labor's principal organizational connection to
 the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The CT's leaders dominated
 the Workers Sector of the PRI, that is the scores of union
 officials who stood for congress, senate, mayoralties and
 governorships. =


      During the 1970s, the CT also acted as a state bulwark
 against the labor insurgency of the early 1970s, an upheaval
 which found its greatest expression in electrical workers union
 (STERM) and the Democratic Tendency (TD). When the CT could no
 longer contain the radical upsurge, the Mexican Army moved into
 crush the TD. =


      At the same time, as the Mexican state expanded its role in
 the economy, the CT working through the PRI and the state, pushed
 for new social programs for workers. The CT won the workers
 housing programs INFONAVIT and FOVISSSTE in 1972, and the Workers
 Bank in 1977. =

                     The Decline of the CT

      But with the economic crisis that opened in August 1982,
 when Mexico could not meet the payments on its 100 billion dollar
 foreign debt, the country's economic model began to change. Under
 presidents Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988), Carlos Salinas de
 Gortari (1988-1994), and Ernesto Zedillo (1994-   ), the so-
 called technocrats, Mexico adopted a "neo-liberal," that is to
 say, a conservative economic model. The technocratic PRI
 presidents advocated privatization, deregulation, and open
 markets. The government sold off the telephone company, airlines,
 copper mines, the railroads.

      As part of the technocratic or neoliberal program, the state
 also attacked the labor unions. Salinas attacked the petroleum
 workers and arrested the union leaders, and sent the miners into
 occupy the Cananea copper mine. Together with the assault on the
 unions, the government became the advocate of a neo-liberal labor
 policy, promoting cooperation between management and labor, and
 new flexible collective bargaining agreements.

      Impressed by Salinas's assault on the Petroleum Workers' and
 Miners' unions Francisco Hernandez Juarez, head of the Telephone
 Workers Union (STRM) supported the privatization of the Mexican
 Telephone Company, in exchange for a promise that members of his
 union would not suffer layoffs. =


      Then, with the support of Salinas, in 1989 Hernandez Juarez,
 organized the Federation of Unions of Enterprises Goods and
 Services (FESEBES), as the advocate of a "new unionism" which
 would work with employers, granting flexible contracts in order
 to improve productivity, quality and competitiveness. The
 founding of FESEBES in 1989 represented the first step leading
 toward the break-up of the Congress of Labor which culminated in
 the split in 1997 that led to the founding of the UNT.

      By the end of 1997, the FESEBES unions left the CT to join
 with others in founding the UNT. The unions and leaders who
 remained in the CT became increasingly divided about the
 federation's future course, divided between Valdes Romo's calls
 for reform, and Rodriguez Alcaine's rantings of reaction.

                And All the Other, Smaller Issues

      When an institution loses its political purpose and social
 function, all the once secondary issues suddenly also become
 problems. Like the plumbing. Nothing quite works right anymore.

      The CT's headquarters becomes a symbol for the state of the
 organization. The CT, it turns out, does not own the building
 which belongs to the Sole Union of Workers of the Government of
 the Federal District (SUTGDF), the Mexico city workers' union. No
 one looks after the deteriorating building which gives the
 impression of neglect.

      More important, the CT has sunk into debt, into a state of
 technical bankruptcy. The CT owes more than 287,000 pesos to the
 Light and Power Company of Central Mexico. The CT also stands
 several months behind in its payments to the Mexican Institute of
 Social Security (IMSS) for joint employer-union education
 programs. The affiliates typically fall behind in their payments
 to the CT, so the organization always falls behind.

      And, curiously for the PRI's official federation, at present
 the CT does not have a registration (registro) from the
 Department of Labor, meaning that it does not have legal standing
 to negotiate with anybody. CT lawyers are working on that one.

           Still the Most Labor Organization in Mexico

      While the CT has seen its headquarters become dingy and
 dilapidated, has fallen into debt, and somehow lost its legal
 standing--it remains the most important labor organization in
 Mexico.

      The CT claims to represent 10 million Mexican workers,
 though no one believes those highly inflated figures. The best
 estimate is that the CT has perhaps half that many workers. The
 rival UNT today claims 150 unions with 1.5 million members.
 Mexico's National Institute of Statistics (INEGI) says that the
 country has 36 million workers, of whom 9.8 million are
 affiliated with the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).
 Half of Mexico's workers labor in the informal sector.

      The CT's political influence remains significant, but
 increasingly weak. The CT-PRI Workers Sector today is made up of
 41 congressmen and 11 senators. Of the 41 congressmen, the CTM
 has 28; the Federation of Unions of Workers at the Service of the
 State (FSTSE), the federal pubic employees union also headed by
 Valdes Romo, has six; the Revolutionary Confederation of Workers
 and Peasants (CROC) has three; the Regional Confederation of
 Mexican Workers (CROM) has three; and Victor Flores Morales, head
 of the Railroad Workers Union (STFRM) holds one. But as the PRI
 itself goes deeper into crisis, the importance of the Workers
 Sector becomes more dubious. =


      Valdes Romo says he wants to carry the Congress of Labor
 forwards into the future. Rodriguez Alcaine clearly wants to lead
 it backwards into the glorious past. The two may think they are
 fighting over the best treatment for the patient in the intensive
 care unit. They may be struggling over the corpse.

                               ###

 END MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS, VOL. 3, NO. 5, MARCH 2, 1998


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