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4 June, 2007
Arrests and injuries from police gun-fire haunt Democratic of Congo’s (DRC) trade unions, as activists struggle to exert their rights in the war-torn but resource-rich African country.
On 22 May, General Secretary Jean-Benoit Ntando of the ICEM affiliated mining and energy trade union, Organisation des Travailleurs Unis du Congo (OTUC), was arrested near Kinshasa. He was leading a demonstration of Foire Internationale de Kinshasa (FIKIN) workers and along with two other union leaders, was detained at a police detention centre in Limete, Kinshasa.
The three were released two days later.
The main reason for industrial action by the FIKIN workers’ was non-payment of salaries and other benefits, a persistent problem in the DRC. In spite of the many promises by the company, workers, as well as middle managers, suffer from non-payment of wages for up to 17 months. Trade unionists also were protesting against the abusive dismissal of co-workers, and the employer’s failure to consult with the union on important decisions, as required by the company’s statutes.
In a memorandum addressed to the DRC’s Minister of Portfolio, Jeannine Mabunda, on 22 May, the FIKIN trade union delegation called for the removal of the company’s top-level management.
The situation for the workers at the state-run diamond mine called Société Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) near Mbuji-Mayi, in south-central Kasai-Oriental Province, also remains precarious.
A strike there by some eight ICEM-affiliated mining unions over non-payment of wages began on 23 April, but was suspended four weeks later after a new interim management team was installed. Although the company did pay one month’s back wages, the dispute regressed when MIBA used police force against workers.
Ngandu Ntumba, a union leader of the ICEM-affiliated SYTRAME-CDT, disappeared for 48 hours into the hands of DRC’s security forces, while another SYTRAME trade unionist named Tshimpaka was shot in the leg by police, and then was trampled by police forces as they rushed other protesters. This occurred in mid-May.
The victim remains in a hospital in Bonzola in eastern DRC, after doctors removed a bullet from his left leg. But he is still without proper medical necessities. The ICEM is cooperating with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in order to get the necessary care and medicines to him.
Léon Ngoy Bululu
Also in the DRC, Vice President Léon Ngoy Bululu of the Solidarité Syndicale des Travailleurs et Cadres du Congo, an affiliate of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) was released from Makala prison in Kinshasa on 15 May. Bululu was arrested on 20 April following an appearance on local television, where he criticised the state-owned transport agency ONATRA.
A hearing on 11 May had already acquitted him of all charges. Both ITF and ICEM had demanded his release.