The general secretary of the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU), Thomas Letang, said the leadership of the union is currently in talks with the Dominica Assocation of Teachers (DAT) and the Police Welfare Association (PWA) over the Fiscal Responsibility Bill recently withdrawn from parliament by the Skerrit-led administration. Letang said the outcome of the deliberations will determine how the union will respond to the botched presentation of the bill.
According to Letang, the government initially planned to present the bill for passing in parliament without extensive consultation with stakeholders and relevant unions representing civil servants and all categories of paid workers in Dominica. He stated that the planned presentation was insensitive and short-sighted since the input of relevant stakeholders would have improved the quality of the bill and ensured that all parties were well-represented.
The DPSU general secretary noted that he quickly contacted the leadership of DAT and PWA when he learnt that the bill was going to parliament on Monday morning. He disclosed that the union then wrote a letter reflecting the reservations of the union and other allied unions regarding the bill and that the letter was hand-delivered to the cabinet secretary for onward transmission to PM Roosevelt Skerrit.
During the urgent Monday meeting held by DPSU executives to discuss the issue, Letang alleged that the government tried to broker another meeting but he could not leave the current DPSU meeting to attend to that being sought by the government. He said he was aware that the government wanted to speak with him so as to convey the impression that DPSU was in on the bill.
“I was not going to leave the executive meeting to come to have a discussion just for it to be said you had a consultation with us at the last minute,” Letang said. “This is not consultation. You engage us in discussion; you tell us what your plans are; we provide you with an input and at the end, there is an agreement and we move forward. That is a consultation.”
He also added that the position of DPSU on the bill will become known after the union has met with DAT and PWA officials next week. He said the meeting will also consider the legal implications of anything the body would propose and this would reflect the overall agreements of all stakeholders over the fiscal bill. He also stated that the union will carry the World Bank and the IMF along with its decisions.
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