General Secretary of the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) Thomas Letang is describing the situation at the Public Works Corporation (PWC) as “a recurring decimal” where staff have been struggling to get their salaries on a timely basis.
As a result, Letang says those in management authority at the PWC are very “insensitive to the plight of the workers” and vows to take drastic action to remedy the situation.
In an exclusive interview with Nature Isle News (NIN), Letang explained that “Daily paid staff and monthly paid staff are being affected by this salary issue, and has been going on for more than a year.”
“The daily paid staff sometimes ago decided to express their dissatisfaction and reported to work, however, they were not actively engaged in the task that they were supposed to carry out and as a result of that, management took a decision not to pay them for that week…they did not strike but were showing their dissatisfaction and was cooperative,” Letang stated.
“The staff is not being paid on time means loans at the bank not being paid on time hence a penalty, Credit Cards not being paid on time penalty, utility bills are also being affected, credit ratings go bad, they owe people and cannot pay so it is a lot of inconveniences for them,” he said.
He continued, “It is an embarrassment and some can’t even approach the bank or other financial institutions for any new loans because their credit rating is poor.”
“I also made some proposals moving forward, among them are that five days after you have not paid them you pay them an inconvenience allowance; also, the union has a loan facility for members at a very low interest rate. We proposed that staff come to us to get a loan to pay their bills and when you get money you pay the union the interest that the staff would have paid that was also rejected,” Letang remarked.
He further posited that he also proposed for the inconvenience provided that they be given “family leave” meaning “they are to be paid on the 31st you pay them five days after, and since they were forced to pay penalties for being paid late you give them a couple of days leave in place of that, this also was rejected.”
Letang explained that when PWC does work for the government, they are expected to be paid, and, the government is not giving them a subvention they are paid for work done.
“We have now reached a point where enough is enough we have decided to take action and it won’t only be PWC but I am going to seek solidarity from staff that we represent elsewhere. It is not just a PWC matter but it affects every one of us. We have not yet decided what form of action, “he said.
“It is time that people understand that they have to stand up for their rights and interests we all are in this together and people in authority at the PWC are very insensitive to the plight of the workers,” Letang concluded.
In June of the year, the General Manager of the Public Works Corporation (PWC), Titus Francis, announced that “the longstanding issue of a delayed payment of wages and salaries to PWC employees has finally been resolved”.
He stated, “The situation is that our employees haven’t received payments or wages or salaries for 2 rounds of fortnightly pay and 1 month of monthly pay. But as I speak to you, the situation has been resolved.”
He stated then, that the delay in payments had been a cause for concern among PWC employees, leading to complaints and frustration on the part of the staff and the union representing the PWC workers.
Francis assured that measures have been put in place to prevent a recurrence of such delays. “We are working closely with the Ministry of Public Works and have proposed solutions to avoid similar situations in the near or distant future,” he said.
Over the years, PWC employees have staged protest actions on multiple occasions due to non-payment of salaries and wages.
