With the help of the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU), healthcare workers in the country have identified areas of concern with the Hospital Authority Bill in its current form. DPSU General Secretary, Thomas Letang, said his team has not identified anything positive in the bill and that it portends a lot of disadvantages to hospital and healthcare workers in Dominica. He tasked the government not to pass the bill until the union is able to iron out gray areas to its members.
One of the problems that DPSU executives find with the hospital bill is that new employees or non-appointed staffers may be placed on a three-year contract – a work situation that may demoralize health workers rather than motivate them to work for improved efficiency. With a three-year contract, healthcare professionals may not be able to secure bank loans since they have no job security under a contract employment, Letang said.
In a situation where workers contracts are not renewed after a three-year team, experienced health professionals may travel overseas to work, leaving the country at the mercy of inexperienced staffers or immigrant professionals from poorer countries – DPSU leaders reasoned. The union also found that even appointed workers may have work benefits such as sick leave, study leave, vacation, and travelling allowance taken away from them under the wordings of the current bill.
The union also finds it worrisome that the government failed to mention the roles of DPSU in the career of healthworkers in the bill. This is seen as a government ploy to wean the union off public health workers, a situation that might leave them open to unfavourable work conditions and unpleasant work policies. Without union representation, individual workers are on their own since they work under different job contracts, and DPSU will not be able to negotiate for their rights or benefits on a collective basis.
“When the law takes effect, those people will be on contract and it will be very difficult for us to get bargaining rights on their behalf, because you would not be doing collective bargaining for them but it would be issued with individual contracts so the move, while it may not be intentional, can really see a riddance of union representation at the hospital,” Letang stated. “If you go to sleep but you know that for your contract to be renewed it depends on certain people, then you cannot open your mouth and say anything; you will constantly be in fear.”
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