US embassy cable - 05KINSHASA1705

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001705 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LABOR FOR DOL/ILAB TFAULKNER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2015 
TAGS: ELAB, ECON, PGOV, SOCI, CG 
SUBJECT: TEACHERS' STRIKE: GDRC OFFER ON THE TABLE, BUT 
STILL NO TAKERS 
 
REF: KINSHASA 1672 
 
Classified By: EconCouns G. Groth for reasons 1.4 b/d 
 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Private school students began returning to 
classrooms in Kinshasa on Monday, October 10, but public and 
parochial schools throughout the DRC remained closed, waiting 
for teachers' unions to come to an agreement with the GDRC on 
their salary demands. This was despite calls from leaders in 
many sectors of society to end the strike.  The GDRC offer is 
for salaries between USD 50 and 100 per month, to be paid for 
the last three months of 2005 and at the same level in 2006. 
Striking teachers appear to be holding out for what they 
believe were minimum wage levels of about USD 200 per month, 
as agreed upon by some unspecified future date in the 
so-called Mbudi Agreement.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) The nationwide elementary, secondary, and professional 
level teachers' strike, which began on September 5 (reftel), 
continued this week.  The two principal teachers' unions, 
SYECO and SYNECAT, are still rejecting GDRC offers and their 
members have stayed away from most public and parochial 
school classrooms, effectively shutting down all but private 
schools throughout the DRC. (Note: Most parochial schools, 
operated by Catholic, Protestant, and Kimbanguiste churches, 
are subsidized by the state and have government-hired 
teachers.  End note.)  Striking public and parochial school 
teachers in the interior of the country have also stayed away 
from classrooms, and have added calls for bonuses equal to 
those paid in Kinshasa (for example, transport) to the list 
of their demands.  Private school teachers and students, 
meanwhile, began returning to classrooms in Kinshasa in 
near-normal numbers on Monday, October 10, and there have 
been no reports of violence or retaliation by outsiders. 
 
3. (C) Striking teachers and their students stayed away from 
classrooms despite calls from a variety of government, 
private, religious, and even some other labor leaders to 
return to work.  The most notable of these pronouncements was 
by Catholic Cardinal Etsou, Archbishop of Kinshasa, who 
collapsed during a Mass on October 9 before he was able to 
speak about the strike. In a message subsequently released to 
the press, Etsou called upon the government and teachers to 
find a solution.  (Note: Cardinal Etsou spent one night in 
the hospital and released his comments on the school strike 
during a press conference held on October 12.  End note.) 
Schools run by the Catholic Church in the DRC make up a large 
number of the parochial schools affected by the strike.  The 
decision by the DRC Council of Catholic Bishops in July 2005 
to suspend the practice of parents paying "motivation fees" 
to supplement teachers' salaries has played a role in this 
crisis. 
 
4. (C) Econ Counselor spoke to Budget Minister Francois 
Muamba on October 12.  Muamba laid out the GDRC offer to the 
teachers and explained the genesis of the problem.  He said 
that the teachers' salary issue was two-fold before July 
2003: low wages and sporadic, late payment.  This, combined 
with high levels of inflation, made it hard for public and 
parochial school teachers to earn a living.  Informal 
"motivation" fees paid by parents probably equalled or 
surpassed the 5,000 to 10,000 FC (little more than USD 10 - 
20 per month) that teachers were theoretically receiving from 
the government.  The Minister explained that the so-called 
Mbudi Agreement, signed by an outgoing minister in June 2003 
and accepted by the new government that followed, had laid 
out a roadmap to address this problem.   The agreement called 
for an eventual salary to the lowest paid civil servant of 
slightly over USD 200.  According to the Minister, this was 
contingent upon the ability of the GDRC to generate 
sufficient receipts at some unspecified future time to be 
able to support these new wage levels. 
 
5. (C) Based upon the first step of the Mbudi Agreement, 
teachers' salaries were nearly doubled in July 2003 and then 
increased to their current levels in May of this year, when 
the 2005 budget actually went into effect. According to 
Muamba, all teachers are now paid between about USD 40 - 50 
per month.  He explained that the current GDRC offer, based 
upon savings from the first four months of 2005, when 
teachers were being underpaid, plus savings expected when the 
results of the nationwide teacher census become available, 
would allow the government to pay teachers between USD 50 and 
100 per month, more than four times what they were earning in 
mid-2003.  These new levels would begin before the end of 
October.  Although the 2006 budget process has just begun, he 
said that these wage levels would be sustained for 2006, and 
might even be slightly higher if the third step of the Mbudi 
process was achieved.  He noted that it might be a long time 
before the USD 200 per month figure is reached, since he 
estimated that it would require an overall budget in the USD 
five or six billion range to support that level of wages. 
(Note: Minister Muamba stated that, while teachers make up 
less than half the total of the estimated half a million 
civil servants in the DRC, their salary levels exceed those 
of their civil service counterparts, who also come under the 
Mbudi Agreement.  End note.) 
 
6. (C) So far, public and parochial school teachers have 
rejected the GDRC offer.  Part of their discontent is over 
the government decision, and the parochial schools' 
agreement, to put a stop to the payment of the teacher 
"motivation fees" by parents.  Minister Muamba acknowledged 
that, even with the proposed increases by the GDRC, teachers 
will be making less than they did before when the parents' 
contributions were factored in. 
 
7. (C) Comment. The GDRC and the public/parochial school 
teachers appear to be still far apart on the issue of salary 
demands.  The GDRC has been open about what it can do, given 
the budget constraints it faces.  Teacher unions seem to have 
a misguided notion of what the Mbudi Agreement called for and 
when.  Meanwhile, the elementary, secondary, and perhaps soon 
university-level students are facing a lost school year. 
This is potentially an explosive situation in an already 
tense pre-electoral environment where elections spoilers are 
ready to capitalize on social discontent to derail the 
electoral process.  The GDRC can only hope that cooler heads 
will prevail and that the teachers will agree that a 
sustainable four-fold increase over salary levels of just 
over two years ago is a big step in the right direction.  End 
comment. 
MEECE