DPSU to hold solidarity rally

Letang said the rally will be held on Thursday

The Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) will be holding a “solidarity rally” under the theme ‘One Union Indivisible; What Hurts One Hurts All’, to sensitize its membership on the challenges faced by employees concerning payments, working conditions and other matters of importance.

The rally will take place on the DPSU grounds from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm on Thursday 16th March 2017.

General Secretary of the union, Thomas Letang, stated that despite knowing that the challenges faced are “big”, he believes that the ‘fight’ is a fight for all employees and citizens across the country.

“We do not see them (challenges) as adversaries but we see them as an important part of the journey towards equality. However, while we appreciate the role of the employer, we demand respect and fair treatment for workers, that is our mission as a trade union,” he said.

According to Letang, another aim of the rally is to “revive consciousness of unity and collective responsibility.”

“This is what the DPSU propagates and advocates, to strive to dismantle the individuality and passiveness that plague our movement,” he stated.

It is the hope of the DPSU to “ignite a conflagration that will fire up our membership” and make union success a better life for all workers and a reality for all workers, he pointed out.

Letang noted that the rally will not only address concerns over salary, but also all other areas that affect public officers.

“We know that there are other issues of national concern, which have affected public officers and will be discussed,” he added.

The expectation of the DPSU with regards to the impact of the rally is to “create a new consciousness, a new awareness among the membership that we can only make success if we are together,” and to not simply sit and criticize without doing something to make a change.

It also aims to solicit the support of every Dominican and that includes public servants and people who have a keen interest in the matters at hand.

“It is to get the general public to understand that it is not just sitting on the sidelines and criticizing the employees and trade unions, but for us to achieve a lot of the things we are looking at, we need the support of the public, and this is the reason why we are inviting not only our members but the general public, our supporters, to come and provide us with that support, that solidarity that is needed and is very very important,” Letang said.

He hopes that the rally will be a form of motivation for people to move out from “that cloud of fear” and voice their concerns and “stand up for their rights.”

“It is our responsibility to try as hard as we possibly can to eradicate that fear so that the people, our trade union members, will be able to stand up for their rights and let their voices be heard without any fear…the fear of victimization,’ he said. “People believe that ‘okay I do not want to be seen; I do not want to be heard because I will be victimized’ but that is where the issue of unity comes in. if we stick together we will make it, but if we are divided we are giving people the opportunity to do things that will affect us. The strength of many is the power of one, and what hurts one hurts all.”

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28 Comments

  1. scars
    March 15, 2017

    ha boy letang this smoke screen is too glaring this is a nice way to say I am mobilizing ppl for the uwp.
    stop being two face.

  2. OLI
    March 15, 2017

    Well, doh look for me!! I not there!! I all ready to take back my 20 bux. :mrgreen:

    • %
      March 15, 2017

      You are a Skerrit beggar,most likely lazy and unemployed.

  3. Dominica
    March 15, 2017

    When civil servants will start eating poops they might say its peanut butter. Mr. Later let these people deal with their problems when its too much for them to bear. By that time they will be dying of hunger and thirst so they will have no strength to fight. They prefer to suffer and die than speak up. Just leave them alone.

  4. freedom fighter
    March 15, 2017

    Lookout for me, I’m going to be there.

  5. March 15, 2017

    Bogus. Mr. Letang is always ‘calling for….’, and ‘disappointed in…..’, and ‘wants to see…’.
    When will he actually start working? How long has it been since you’ve held this position again?

  6. March 15, 2017

    Mr Letang, it may be time for you to step down. Allow a fresh face pop up on my screen when I watching Marpin 8pm newscast.

  7. 1979 is forever....
    March 15, 2017

    after the civil service was silently complicit in installing this misery upon themselves they want solidarity?? what about solidarity with PWC and DAPEX.. this is all about votes. another bait and switch.. just watch they will give the civil service 1% 0% 1% and WITH THAT SCRAPS they would have won them over for another 5 years.. foolish people.

  8. March 15, 2017

    Nice cover up Thomas. We’re well aware of your DEEP connections with opposition. What’s your true agenda?

    • Look It
      March 15, 2017

      REALLYYYYY…. are you telling me that now that union workers are fed up and demanding an increase, they are supporting the opposition…. but what is it with you people…. so Dominicans just have to sit down and take misery like moomoos?????

      ALL SKERRITIES WICKED EH!!!! Everybody should just become moomoo and take all blow Skerrit dishing out!!!

      All I am saying just as allu fast to say Skerrit was elected in a democratic way, which we all know is a dam lie, BECAUSE MANY SITS WERE STOLEN….. UNION WORKERS HAVE A DEMOCRATIC RIGHT TO STAND UP AGAINST THIS MISERY

  9. March 15, 2017

    This is more like a UWP solidarity rally. Not us allu fooling, pas la!

  10. CRIME STOPPERZ
    March 15, 2017

    mr letang I cannot give you problems as a civil servant. I noticed that the other union leaders are playing politics, civil servant who do not support the government will go to meetings and those who support the government wont go, its like party before pocket. mr letang, let the fools get what they deserve.

  11. puss
    March 15, 2017

    Letang you are a joker. Rally after work. Civil Servants go home to look after your families after work as normal.

    • OLI
      March 15, 2017

      You’re so right. A rally at 4:30 pm with workers picking up children, or taking a bus to go out of town, or tired after a long day? Awah awah!! Maybe about a 100 people that might be there. :lol:

  12. Not me Alone
    March 14, 2017

    “The rally will take place on the DPSU grounds from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm on Thursday 16th March 2017”

    With all respect to Mr. Thomas Letang and his executive I find they behaving like cowards man. I mean the atmosphere in Dominica is on his side for a very effective rally and he running at 4:30-6:30? How coward man! UWP and freedom just had a massive meeting that cracked the glass bottle of the DLP so much, and no doubt they put Skerrit on his knees. An effective leader would cease on that atmosphere to demand a raise at a time when Skerrit has passport money dishing out everywhere and he only offering his people 000 and you coming with a 4:30 rally. Man NO body should join the man and I am very disappointed to hear lennox Linton say on Q95 that he will be joining. if the rally was from 9am then I would understand that but 4:30? Linton should call a rally that same day man. Right now my understanding of DSPU is, Defeated, Scared, powerless Union

  13. Curious
    March 14, 2017

    If this was meant to be an honest, open and non-partisan/political meeting, then it surely is not shaping up that way. Just listen carefully to the adverts promoting the event. These ads will surely scare some people off. Good luck though.

  14. Ibo France
    March 14, 2017

    In order for workers to achieve better working conditions and get a raise in stagnant wages, they have to agitate for them. Passivity doesn’t improve your lot. “United we stand, divided we fall”. For workers to bargain from a position of strength, they have to be united as one force. What a powerful message this rally would send to the powers that be if most civil servants participate with their physical presence. When workers are afraid to participate in a peaceful rally for their own cause, it tells you that democracy is not vibrant, it’s sick in the hospital. Even if would-be marchers perceive that they would be victimized, this clearly shows a dictatorship is brewing. The politicians in this country live like aristocrats while hard working civil servants are grotesquely exploited. “Civil Servants……… Forward March!”

  15. Marcus Hill
    March 14, 2017

    Afterwork happy hour!

    The former General Secretary of the CSA would have shut down the country by now!!

  16. %
    March 14, 2017

    Skerrit cannot keep frittering away our CBI money,just to catch votes,while he wants us to accept a wage freeze..A general strike is looming..LET HIM CALL IT AN OVERTHROW..One new term in his fledgling vocabulary.

    • Why
      March 15, 2017

      %, Your hatred and obsession for Skerro has earned you a special seat in the devils court. Why are so full of animosity, you are living and breathing for that 1 man. Talk about how you are going to improve our lives and your vision, we are tired of this decisiveness.

      • %
        March 15, 2017

        I detest wicked peoples leadership..

  17. Shaka Zulu
    March 14, 2017

    You too soft dude. They have been bull you for 20 years. We need change at head of DPSU. It is clear that you not getting anywhere. In your capacity you have to be prepared to shutt down the country through general strike. You have not shown any willingness to do that. 5 years is tooo long not to get a raise far less 16.

    • CRIME STOPPERZ
      March 15, 2017

      one man cannot be the union idiot

    • puss
      March 15, 2017

      He is a LAB

  18. O No
    March 14, 2017

    Give me a brake, these people need training and better working ethics. I was told by a bank clerk, you just can’t walk off the streets and say you want to open a bank account! Go to customs their doors are closed 10 minutes before closing time. When I am at a restaurant I am being ignored while my server is on her cell. First train your members in common courtesy and hospitality. The people in the market treat you with more respect than civil servants do.

    • Lala
      March 15, 2017

      Since when is a restaurant considered part of the civil service though? Or the bank for that matter? And people actually giving that tehbeh comment thumbs up?? :-?

      We have a major issue with customer service here, but there are even bigger issues at hand.

    • Virgin Islander Passie
      March 15, 2017

      I totally agree with your comment. Dominica employees on a whole treat customers real bad. There jobs are permanent even if they produce or not. All around the world employees performance are monitored by the minute. It is high time that Dominican employees enjoy their jobs and not just occupy a seat.

  19. Green Gold
    March 14, 2017

    Lol…let’s are how many public officers will show up.

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