Letang wants more attention for public officers after disasters

Letang believes more emphasis should be placed on first responders after a disaster

The General Secretary of the Dominica Public Service Union Thomas Letang believes public officers are not given priority as the country recovers from Hurricane Maria.

Letang told DNO that some public officers are the first responders after disasters and they should not be treated like regular citizens following such events.

The DPSU boss was merely saying this because public officers such as doctors, fire officers, police officers and many others have to abandon their families after a disaster in order to keep the country running. But these same public officers have to go through the normal routine as everybody else when receiving, for example, relief supplies.

“They have to follow the lines like everybody else for relief supplies, they have to go through the Parlreps for supplies, nothing is put in place to give them special attention and that needs to change,” he said.

Letang said he made a proposal to the government for a budgetary allocation to be made for some public officers, especially first responders. But he said no response was received on the matter.

“You do a proper assessment on who has been affected and you make provisions to assist them but that is not being done,” he said.

According to Letang, some private sector companies have measures in place to assist their employees during emergencies.

“But it’s a shame that public officers don’t have that privilege,” he remarked.

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10 Comments

  1. Kellyoff
    August 2, 2018

    I fine nothing wrong in going thru the routine. Public officers are to be treated equal Luke private offices

  2. David J Lewis
    August 1, 2018

    Fake, fake Letang. The list of stuff and needs assessment went up to establishment, there supporters got stuff. The Government supporters were sent out to help UNDP and all the others that stay at the offices were served . They got all stuff including beds. I yet to get and many others yet to get anything. Fake news. Some disgruntled retired fake woman pushing Letang to do and say that. Bad , toxic, people.

  3. rock2
    July 31, 2018

    Mr. Letang they make us fill out forms for items we lost. Send it back for us to be more specific ….ghess ….johdie.

  4. Ibo France
    July 31, 2018

    “they have to go through the Parlreps for supplies.” This vulgar politicization of foreign donations should ceased once and for all. The donations didn’t come from the pockets of any one of the MPs. This should be done by appropriate organs of government, after assessments are made. The most needy and vulnerable should be first in line to receive. Absolutely no politics in the distribution of aid to the victims . Why does one man want to spread himself so thin as to micromanage everything? Can’t be good for the country.

  5. July 31, 2018

    Good TING,—- I love your response it came from the heart , from experiencing it first hand thank you , it is sad but customer service is dead in D.A , only thru public service announcements , education , and exposing bad behavior from our public SERVANTS will things change, again thank you.

  6. EN BA LA
    July 31, 2018

    Mr. Letang I am asking you as I have no idea who to ask.
    Talking about first responders how many trained paramedics do we have in Dominica?
    If negative is there any talk of such while talking climate resilience? Can each fire district have at least the second in command be a trained medic?

  7. Sams
    July 31, 2018

    Mr Letang that is true especially the ones in the carib reserve it’s a shame the government should give them some serious attention after 10 months

  8. Bush man
    July 31, 2018

    this is so true
    thank you Mr Letang for bringing this up

  9. Good Ting
    July 31, 2018

    Are you for real Mr. Latang? While we cannot catoragize every civil servant as the same the majority of them are crooks openly asking for kickback especially in customs. Most of them are rude, unprofessional and greedy. At this time proper training and proper ethical standards should be implemented immediately by the unions.

  10. mine
    July 31, 2018

    You such a fake.

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