LABOR TRAINING (AIFLD)

Evalation covers the period 10/3/77-3/31/78 and is based upon nonquantifiable judgements of the labor attache. The labor situation changed dramatically in 2/78, as the Bolivian government lifted all restrictions upon trade union activities. New elections have been held in virtually all of the unions since then. The great majority were won by democratic unionists, most of whom were trained by the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD). The old unionists who had cooperated with the government, many of whom were also AIFLD trained, were replaced by newcomers to union positions, deepening the need for a large scale training program at both the basic level -- for new untrained leaders -- and at the intermediate and advanced levels -- for leaders who have been suddenly promoted from union to federation and confederation leadership positions. The large demand for AIFLD courses from most of Bolivia"s labor organizations underscores the need for such a program. The AIFLD budget, however, is woefully inadequate for funding a program large enough to capitalize upon these recent events. The labor attache believes that AIFLD/Bolivia must devise a plan balancing its priorities and resources, rather than operating on a "first-come, first-served" basis. This lack of planning may deny the bank workers and rural teachers any courses for the rest of the year. The attache believes that funds should be allocated to cover all important labor organizations with whom cooperation was possible, allowing the reallocation of funds at the year"s end if an organization had not requested any courses. The labor attache believes that AIFLD/Bolivia should move more aggressively, even taking the initiative, if necessary, toward establishing relationships with as many labor organizations as possible. USAID also believes that funding for a consultant is unjustifiable, as the money could be used for programming purposes.