The Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) has advised all public workers to stay away from work until a position is taken with the government over the lobby for salary increase. The union said there will be warning strike for Wednesday and Thursday during which they will meet with stakeholders to determine the stance to take. The executives of the union had earlier met on Tuesday and hope to meet with the entire union members on Thursday for a briefing.
DPSU said they had been negotiating for salary increase with the government since many years without any significant result. They demanded for salary review for the 2018-2021 period in a proposal submitted to government on December 2018. General Secretary Thomas Letang said 19 months have passed since the triennium started to the present period with no significant direction on the government’s position over the demands.
Letang said the government did not acknowledge their requests or letters several times, and that DPSU had to resort to rallies to get the attention of the government sometimes. He said when they eventually heard from the government, the response made no mention of salary demands for public officers. He noted that as much as the workers desire for the country to move forward in all directions, there is no way this can happen if the government does not make workers happy or accede to their demands for better remuneration packages.
Letang revealed that DPSU is following all regulations in their demands for salary increase, since there are rules and principles that must be adhered to in such situations. However, he maintained that the timing of the union’s demands has no bearing to the timing of the coming general elections, saying the union will not be used for any political fights against opposing political parties.
“Our proposal is not based on who is in power or who is not in power,” Letang clarified. “Before and long after elections, we will still be negotiating on behalf of members.”
The union secretary said the executives will continue to press home their demands until they obtain a favourable response from the government, before and after the elections.
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