Congo inland navigation workers suffer years of non-payment

6 August 2006

Delegates attending the ITF’s Inland Navigation Section conference heard reports from Ben Roxy Udogwu, ITF Regional Secretary and Guy Kuku, ITF Central Africa Sub-Regional Coordinator. They highlighted the need for a strategy to enable inland navigation workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to develop a unified front. Inland navigation workers in the country recently held a 10-day protest over 15 years of non-payment of wages.

Commenting on the situation Kuku said: “The political situation in the Congo, arising out of the armed conflict, has created a lack of confidence in the economy. The means of transport has been disrupted and boats have remained idle. Some of the workers are on the payroll of boat owners, but the boats are no longer being hired, so workers cannot be paid.”

He added that the only way to solve the problem was to see an end to the armed conflict in the DRC. The ITF could help mobilise international pressure on the government to stop the war.

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