The Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) has accused the government of employing delay tactics to forestall negotiations about salary increase for public workers. DPSU General Secretary, Thomas Letang, said since the government refused to address the issues of salary increase, the union has equally kept an ace up their sleeve to force the DLP administration back to the negotiation table.
Letang lamented the Skerrit administration is implementing social programmes at the expense of public servants’ welfare. He added it is lame for the government to continue blaming the hurricanes for every national problem, saying everyone everywhere is impacted by hurricanes one way or the other. He reiterated that the government is fond of giving excuses when it comes to reviewing salary increases as demanded.
We welcome all the assistance that has been given to people in terms of repairing their houses and so on, but we are saying that these are not reasons why public officers should not get a salary increase.
Thomas Letang: DPSU General Secretary
He went on to reveal that the proposal issued by the government over the union’s demands lacks merit and definitiveness. To this extent, the union has equally settled on a course of action that will be kept secret on how to deal with the matter.
“We have…a planned course of action that we’ll be embarking on, to force the Government to come to the table and to negotiate, and not only to negotiate, but to come with a proposal that makes sense,” Letang revealed. “At what point are people going to say: Look we have been denied a fair salary increase for the past 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years and no, we can’t sit down and take this no more.”
He noted the government would do a lot better by merging proposed allowances with the expected salary increase of public workers. He said the current administration should understand that a roundtable negotiation is necessary to foster understanding between the government and the public workforce.
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