Kinshasa, May 19th, 2025 (CPA) – Congolese workers in Indo-Pakistani shops along Tabu Ley (formerly Tombalbaye) and Commerce avenues in Gombe, a commune in the north of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, demanded a pay rise from their employers on Monday during a strike.
‘We’ve received the first and second increments, but it’s the third that’s causing the problem, i.e. the full guaranteed inter professional minimum wage (SMIG), the daily wage, and there’s no follow-up from the labor inspectors. That’s why we’ve decided to go on strike again, to finally get the guaranteed minimum wage at the daily rate’, said Moïse Kokongo, one of the Indo-Pakistani shop assistants. The striking employees complained of unfair working conditions and low pay. According to them, hired workers currently receive a daily wage of ten (10) US dollars, while day laborers are paid just five (5) dollars a day. ‘Our strike is due to the failure to respect the guaranteed inter professional minimum wage (Smig). The expatriates don’t want to respect it, which is why we have said that we are not going to work and that there will be no opening of the shops until they respect the agreements’, said Kasongo Ndjibu, an expatriate shop agent found on site. Some of the shops concerned, notably those on avenue Tabu Ley (formerly Tombalbaye), have been closed, while others on avenues du Marais and Colonel Ebeya have also been closed, due to the failure of these Congolese workers to pay the guaranteed minimum wage (Smig). For their part, the managers of the Indo-Pakistani shops affected by the strike refrained from commenting publicly. The work of the tripartite commission monitoring the application of the Guaranteed Inter professional Minimum Wage (Smig), which opened on October 10th, 2024, was the first pillar of the government’s program to create jobs and protect household purchasing power in order to fulfill the commitments made by the Head of State.