US embassy cable - 05KINSHASA52

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000052 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O.  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, ECON, PHUM, PGOV, SOCI, CG 
SUBJECT:  LABOR SECTOR UPDATE 
 
REF: A) 04 KINSHASA 450, B) 04 KINSHASA 1474 
 
1. (U) From Nov-Dec 2004, a series of civil servant 
strikes to claim salary payments and raises occurred in 
both government organizations and state-owned 
enterprises. In 2003-2004, the GDRC negotiated a civil 
service restructuring plan with the World Bank without 
union involvement. The GDRC designed a salary increase 
of 20 percent (or FC 133) calculated on a base salary 
of FC 665 (approx. USD 1.60) per month. Due to the lack 
of inclusion in negotiations and continued low pay per 
the new plan, civil service unions considered 
organizing another general strike, along the lines of 
Feb-April events (Ref A). 
 
2. (U) On December 20, 2004, the Ministry of Civil 
Service called a two-day meeting with civil service 
unions to continue negotiations. The Minister of Civil 
Service again presented to the unions the civil service 
restructuring plan - including the proposed pay raise 
and the forced retirement and voluntary departures for 
some employees.  Unions initially resisted adopting the 
restructuring plan, but in the end accepted it. Both 
the GDRC and the unions agreed to make the salary 
increase effective in the 2005 Budget. The Minister of 
Civil Service, meanwhile, promised to pay salary 
arrears for 2004 by the end of 2004 and to meet payroll 
obligations regularly in 2005. 
 
3. (U) While accepting the government plan, the civil 
service unions fear arriving at the same fate as 
Gecamines employees who took severance pay packages 
developed without prior negotiation.  Those workers 
received approx USD 3,000, as well as promises of 
employment assistance and training, but the latter have 
not materialized.  Civil servants want to avoid this 
fate by getting the World Bank involved, preferably 
from the unions' standpoint through their inclusion in 
ongoing discussion between the GDRC and the Bank 
regarding general public service reform. Thus far, the 
Bank shows no interest in this proposal. 
 
4. (SBU) Comment: The unions continue to push for the 
GDRC to return to the repudiated Mbudi negotiations of 
Feb 2004 (Ref A) in which GDRC Vice President Z'Ahidi 
Ngoma promised significant cash payments which would in 
fact have broken the bank. GDRC adherence to the deal 
would have dictated violating the terms of its IMF 
commitments, and there is no prospect of such a deal in 
the foreseeable future. The World Bank shows little 
inclination to become directly involved with the civil 
service unions, viewing them as implacable and often 
irrational. In fact, the civil service unions remain 
largely disorganized and have only had a limited impact 
in recent months (Ref B). Given the relatively weak 
position of labor and the poor record of these unions, 
the Embassy does not see a strong potential for civil 
disturbances related to the labor sector at this time. 
End comment. 
 
MEECE