1. Precarious work: The employment situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is going from bad to worse. Not only are salaries and purchasing power extremely low, but “unscrupulous” practices have also emerged on the labour market over the last 30 years. These include one-day contracts, labour subcontracting, traineeships following trial periods and the hiring of permanent employees on repeated short-term contracts. Such practices also apply to what are known as "New Units" (new recruits) in public administration and a number of public services.

2. United trade union action: The world is evolving. It is making ever-greater demands on those with managerial or leadership responsibilities, regardless of the field: companies, associations, NGOs/NGDOs, public services, political organisations. The same holds true for trade unions. As a result, if we want to be effective and deliver quality services, we need to work together. This is not simply a slogan: our mission and our everyday activities are, by their very nature, about coming together. As trade unionists, our role is to be of service, to defend workers’ occupational, material and moral interests, be they labourers, salaried employees or any other type of worker. In short, our role is to defend the interests of the disadvantaged members of our society. To achieve this, rather than having several people covering the same ground, or each union working in isolation and in a haphazard fashion, we have to work together on a number of programmes. We cannot afford to make do with the partial successes or partial failures of today: our tasks and responsibilities are huge. Hence the need to look ahead and go beyond the call of duty, to unite our trade union actions, combine our efforts and pool certain resources.