Employees of the Public Works Corporation (PWC) have protested against late salary payments and lack of work.
“We want our salaries”, “Enough is Enough”, “We need projects too” and “Put yourself in our shoes” were among slogans written on placards this morning, when staff of they took their concerns to the public.
The management, staff and the union representative-the Dominica Public Service Union-have been in discussions for several months over the none and late payment of salaries among other matters.
However staff told reporters at this morning’s protest action that enough is enough and they will be taking further steps.
“We just cannot take it anymore”, one protester said, raising her placard in the air.
“Up till now some of us cannot get pad for the month and it is very stressful having to come to work every day. We have to take busses to get to work, we have children to feed, bills to pay, loans to commit to,” she continued.
The protesters are also arguing that projects are being conducted by foreign contractors and government has refused to make provisions for public works contractors.
“Thy management needs to address the workers. We need work, we need money. We are not getting viable projects. We see a lot of projects going on all around the country. What we are told is not what we are seeing,” another explained.
Meantime General Secretary of the Dominica Public said the Union has done everything that was humanely possible and now is the time to send a message that the staff can no longer take it.
“We have fallen for the criticism coming from some people that we have not done enough and now is the time we need to send a clear message that we are fed up, that we want work. The people have their commitment to the bank and at the end of the day some of them are being threatened by legal action and they cannot get a loan because nobody knows when their deductions are going to be paid,” he said.
Letang said action will continue if the needs of the workers are not met.
tell me who pays the foreign workers?
You know how much value that piece of land would have if it had an EFFICEINT PWC operating there??? But it seems we have already surrendered our best interests to people who don’t give a damn about us
PWC workers sow what they reap and reap what they sow!The evil that we do lives with us!I agree that they should be paid and given work as well,but they should also be held accountable and be made to give honest work for their pay.These PWC workers has robbed the state so much by getting pay wasting time on state’s project that they deserve the judgement they now face.
yes i agree with you, BUT we must start somewhere, if we have identified that as part of the problem then let us act to address it. there are other players to be held accountable and NONE of them should be unaccounted for.
An investigation should be launch into PWC affairs particularly in relation to some board members past and present in relation to purchasing of equipment and highering of equipment for their personal gain. So persons will know where plenty of PWC money went.
Now u asking THE RIGHT QUESTIONS!!!
Yeah, and how PWC were allowed to start work on that asphalt plant without planning permission!
and how an offer was made by RDR to excavate that plant site for free but the witch that was there at the time turn it down so she could pay her friend and overstated amount so she could pocket her share…..we know all about it. LET US TALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hiya Dominicans the fun has just begun!
watcha….now the internationaly community is on the dominican trail with tracking passports sales the issue is that the extra cash skero had blinging around will be dried up…and look for more hardship in 2012…
IMF will be on the Dominicans back even more as the skero blinging regime was too damm blind to realise they needed to grow the economy rather than give hand outs..
so dominicans keep honouring your ignorant badge…it will surely bring you all success in dominica.
Doh worry with Letang with all his varrie. Just let the government let go a sweet poom in his face and he will make a 360 degrees turn and start baygayyaying to the workes. The PSU is nothing but mouth with no balls or whatever is supposed to be down there. Letang should cease the opportunity and call for a national strike and force the government to negotiate all outstanding union issues. Say what we want about him but Hon. Charlo was the best union leader ever..
Public Works Corp, as the name implies, is not part of any Govt. dept. but a separate legal entity, a corporation, owned by the Govt. it is upposed to stand on its own two feet and compete on the open market and not depend on preferrential treatment. I don’t carry a torch for any particular Govt. minister but nobody makes a mention of the management of the this company, past or present, and the responsibility they have for the dire situation it finds itself in now. Who for instance sanctioned the purchase of the asphalt plant without adequate funding being in place and who’s capacity exceeds the entire island’s requirements? What is the managemnt’s role in all this? I’d like to read some comments on that.
ok let take a chance…it’s obvious they’re not totally private because they are getting salaries from the government
Tiny, can you explain then why it are the Public Works Corp. employees effected and not all other Govt. employees in the same way? Believe me Public Works Corp. are responsible for paying their workers, not Govt.
How can management be effective when them minister calling, give this to that one give that to this one” as any of the board members about micromanagement by goverment ministers and you can follow the breadcrumds from there!!! I let’s talk about the abuse of the public quarry
1979,this is the problem i have with these institutions.Y should the management of the institutions allow the polititions or ministers dictate to them how to manage and who they should give what?These things must stop,we must tell ourselves that we are not working for the polititions but for the state.Again,when one is being a political appointee,is to do the politition’s bidding.
im glad that we share the same concerns…..this needs to be addressed.
Find out why the former chairlady Mrs tavernier and the former GM Mr. Dailey was fired!!! And u will know why the asphalt plant cabinet approved was not the one which was purchased…. You all are just starting to scratch the Surface of what is going on inside that place.. I have all their files in black and white so they better start talking.
LOOK I HEAR STATE COLLEGE OWN COMING JUST NOW
Except we have “memoir poul” for true, I dont know why people think that this practise of bypassing the Public Works Department started with the present DLP. Remember under UWP them Trinidadian companys that were contracted to build roads and they in turn “sub-contracted’ PWD to do the job at almost half the contracted price? And who was the main “minister behind those decisions? And what about the road leading to the Carib Model Village? Which company built it.
All dem parties are the same, thats why there is so much disenchantment with governance in Dominica
you sound like yyou have memoir poul!!
remember the recent empty promises of road works to be given to PWC , they even ran ahead and bought a new asphalt plant,now the french man paying back the frenchman with exclusive use of his plant on our major projects
zzzzzzz…You sleeping on you again man. Wake up garcon. My point is tthat this practise has been going on long before the present DLP..and that you cannot deny.
Wake up dread….there is a big difference between someone with memoir poul and one with a memoir buwik
It is absurd that the DLP supporters will resort to pointing at faults in past administration whenever the present administration is called to accountability. Too often we hear the uwp was corrupt, now the failure to provide work for pw department and to pay on time is because during the days of uwp late payments occured. First off all every administration is responsible for their own action or the lack thereof. DLP has been promising the next level so we should not be going back to uwp days.we voted uwp off because. We were told that Dlp would be better , without corruption. Stop making excuses for a failed and very corrupt administration.time to be real and face the music. Where are the jobs and the investments to match the passport sales. Agriculture in shambles and tourism has not grown . The airport upgrade is no better than the disastrous water fountain at the water front.
We wnder why islands like B’dos and Lucia can make so much progress ahead off us. The answer is the people hold politicians responsible. One may say education but then we experience educated people in dominica , in this forum who refuse to use their education to help hold politicians responsible. . I sometimes liken the situatio to the Jim Jones disaster where intelligent and educated people walk into a slaughter camp even while all the signs were written in bold.
Pli tan Pli twist
pay the ppl
They doh need to get salary till next year November. I remember these faces very well. Wanted to beat people and run people off for “Laybaaah”. Them ministers get salary doh! Sot!
much agreed!!!
YEAH
LAYBAAAH LAYBAAAAH
IDIOTS TAKE WHAT YOU GET
THOSE MINISTERS ARE FILTHY RICH WITH BIG HOUSES AND MILLIONS IN D BANK
AND THOSE IDIOT BAWLING LAYBAAH LAYBAAH
NEXT ELECTIONS THEY WILL STILL GO AND BAWL LAYBAAAH LAYBAAAH
If they were part and parcel of this corrupt party, they should take what they get.!
What about funded projects, which PWC never see a dime from, but requests for free tarish going in for said project though, if the project funded pay the people quarry for their material. Stop pushing the funds in allu pocket. The crusher don’t work for free!!
i hope you dumb labourites see what all you have done to our island i allways say is all of us that will pay for allyou stupidness you an’t see nothing yet dominican this skerrit guy is very very dangerous we have to get him out of our lives
government need to get this thing right. this aint antigua.. take care of the people who voted and did not vote in your favor.
All of us should be with the PWC the next time they are demonstrating.
It is them now, but soon the tables will turn on all os us if we do not put a helping hand to their efforts to show dissatisfaction in the Lame New DLP Administration.
This is not what Mike, Rossie and Pierro fought for all these years.
The passport money is going in these guys private account in overseas banks , while the men at PWC are not even getting money to feed their families!!!
This is all a tactis to make these big men be more dependent on hand-outs.
But I am calling on all those who had made the mistake and voted for this New DLP to look in the mirror and come out to oppose corruption.
It is for the future on our kids.
somehow I feel for these people but the writing of these things to come was on the wall for some time now…they knew it was headed this way yet they still shouted LABOUR…take it
I remember when Election was around .I spoke to Dumas from LAPLAINE and he said ” we going to the next level with LABOUR”
The light skinned chick from the savannah area campbell literally ran me off ..
Now they are complaining, I remember telling him about greed and governance..he brushed me aside.I guess now is the time that his electoral Gods has brushed him aside.
When you warn PPL of things to come and they take no heed of your warnings ,whenever they get burnt one must leave them recover on their own so they will see past party colours,reps and flags and begin thinking rationally..
PWC employees it is long over due time to take a stand….. This people are destroying families. I WANT TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY REAL MEN AT PWC .A REAL MAN takes care of his family and do not allow anyone to take bread from their mouth.
WHERE is your TESTICULAR FORTITUDE …TIME TO SHOW US YOU HAVE SOME ….IS NOT ONLY THOSE BOYS IN THEIR FANCY BIG PICK UPS THAT HAVE BALLS,,,,,,,
This is no longer a partisan situation Dominicans, this is about fairness and about your people who got bills to pay, loans to pay and kids to feed, I am sure all the ministers go home every month with their salaries already paid in their banks,now why can’t the same thing be done for the PWC workers,come on people this is wrong and we must say it is wrong for God sake please.
Sout man who sells apple juice and cranberry juice, where is it made.Who need a market for their produce.
Instead of showing the world how uninformed the population in Dominica is, start thinking.
Who will benefit from the sale of apple juice and cranberry juice imported free into Dominica.
Who will benefit from Dominica not making and selling its own juices. Just like the Banana industry. Who is really killing Dominica industry. It is not the chines.
The three examples were given to highlight how government shoots itself in the foot/head by crippling its revenue base. Putting truckers and unemployed youth to work means more families being fed, more of the loans being spent locally, more revenue through taxes and social security etc. I did not blame the Chinese for anything, (yet), but they want 99% of the jobs for their people on loans we have to repay with interests. Thanks for the loan but we have mouths to feed.
Taxes will drop on the apple and cranberry juices resulting in less revenue but I bet the retail price will remain the same and will even increase shortly. The health intention is good but in reality, some greedy merchant will pocket the benefit. Poor unemployed folks cannot pay for juices, even at lower prices. They will buy a soda (coke/fanta) instead.
BLING BLING .
TELL YOUR PARTNERS AND THEM PAY YOUR WOMAN NOR BOY. EVEN IF YOU CAN MENTAIN BUT ELLA GOING POSIE TO ROSEAU EVERYDAY AND NOT GETTING PAID ON TIME. A man like you that campaign so hard taking all old people to vote .
MY PARTNER IN BROOKLYN. THE ONE THAT CARRY MY FATHER TO VOTE. YES YOU. NOW YOU IN AMERICA GETTING Paid on time and see what people going through.
DO like me. i not voting until i move back home permanently. see now you all happy in the so called greener pastures and people home catching hell.
AMEN TO THAT
Where is WAIT A MINUTE. COME SPIN THAT ONE.
The CB dollar (Castle Bruce Dollars will be introduced in the new from China with the Pm face on it and DA passport on the other side. Hold on dominicans, betta days are ahead, we will soon have our own currency. Printing will be done in Roseau.
Voice
It’s about time! Enough is enough! All MUST eat, not only government ministers and their supporters!! The voices of the workers must be heard and heeded,they are not perfect but after all they are people with families and financial commitments.
What is Mr Blackmore and the PWC board saying in all of this? I don’t hear any word from them.
PWC workers, if need be block the damned roads!! The fight is for BREAD and JUSTICE!!
They are enriching themselves, and to hell with the poor man.EVERYTHING IS FOR A TIME!
My fellow Dominicans, Can’t you all see that the country is drying up little by little. So much money is going out and not much is coming in. There is nothing bringing in foreign exchange into the country. Agriculture is dead. Tourism is dead. If somebody tells me one thing besides ROSS University that is bringing money in I’ll buy you a drink. That’s why we have to depend on China or Venezuela for everything. People, “WE ARE DRYING UP”.
pm just sell couple passports and pay them guys
Yeah, while he is swanning around the world, travelling first class, all expenses paid people here are having to forego wages & salaries due to them. At leasst show some compassion!!
What does this story have to do with passport?
Shut the hell up..Because the passports are ours, and all shall eat, and it’s just a few benefitting from it! Pay them from the sales of the passport, because it’s not any kind of investment i am seeing from this Economic Citizenship Programme.
The issues are all related. While some are getting rich and richer selling our passports the masses are unemployed and the poor is getting poorer. If the passport money was all coming to the treasury rather than in the offshore bank accounts jobs could be created for pwc workers and they would be paid on time. We are in a crisis and everything is everything. Because the government has failed us;no economic development the government cannot find money to pay . The ecp was ment to bring in investors not to make millionares out of the dlp cabals.while laborites drinking the servings of lies they cannot prove in tangible way the improvement in their lives.
THE MOVE IS TO FRUSTRATE THE WORKERS IN AN EFFORT TO GET THEM TO WALK AWAY FROM PUBLIC WORKS.IT IS ALLEDGED THAT THE LAND IS TO BE SOLD TO A CHINESE COMPANY FOR HOTEL AND CASINO.IT IS VERY INTERESTED THAT ONLY TODAY THE NEWS BROKE ON Q THAT A CASINO IS TO BE IN ACTION IN ROSEAU VERY SOON.I DONT LIKE COINCIDENCES. WETHER IT BE ON PUBLIC WORKS LAND OR ROSEAU, CASINOS ARE COMMING PEOPLE.I CANNOT WAIT TO HEAR FROM BILL AND THOSE LONG ROBE PASTORS.
oh oh ……….aariiight…..i thought other government workers had a problem with late salaries too…but the public employees are the only ones protesting
Peter R Augustine have always taken a very staunch stands against casinos and gambling, let’s see if the pm have also bought he’s fundamental Christian principles and his voice on these matters
bill and augustine will not talk , they sailing on a sea of milk and honey now
My brother you are right on Q. this is exactly what is happening.
EH Charles is rumored to have sold his property already to the Chinese.. He is working hard in canefield and fondcole to get his business relocated.
The government know exactly what is going on. If PWC dont fight to keep their daily bread they will soon vanish in thin air .they should be shouting “labour power”..
I will say that it is not going to be too long before the other Government departments go without salaries as well.
Because we are drying up in Dominica. Our import bill is over $600,000,000 a year. We export only $70,000,000. How much longer can we sustain with VAT when Dominicans are not making money.
skerro do right sell the passports.the stupid dominicans that support him continue my brother enrich your pocket.
Letang and the rest, Carette go good for allu for protesting without permission!
maybe we should have our our currency and start making money…come on man….if there was money readily available would your salaries be late?….now regarding lack of project…..don’t know what to say about that one…create employment?….fix the countries roads…but there is already a problem in paying you guys …..i guess no money to reconstruct roads either.get a part time job?…..
i meant start printing money….print like crazy….inflation…but just joking about that though…for those of you who don’t get it
Tiny by name, tiny in mind. Guess how much that money wiould be worth if we had our own currency? Ask the Haitians about that!
ya boy.. de road around the east: rc, morne jaune laplaine, boetica, delices, t savane is sooooooo baad.. please, at least, we voted for all u wee..awa. awa, awa…
Letang welcome to the Next Level..we are at 8,500ft and climbing sit back and have some wine for its a 13hr journey to the city of bright lights where the streets are paved in Gold….enjoy your next level flight…
Your package will be delivered to you upon arrival after clearance from the airport of
Hot Sale of Green Passports!!
So what the prime minister doing with all the pass port money the people cannot get their salaries on time. With all the developement people talking about I thought things were better than that.
Our government asked for loans to build roads and other infrastructure but they did not negotiate on behalf of our truckers and unemployed youth. Now they want apple and cranberry juice to be imported duty free while our passion fruits, mangoes, barbadine, guava and soursops continue to rot. The writing is on the wall. We can change course or go down in disgrace.
Where you get that story? About the Apple and Canberry Juice?? You all must stop misleading and adding to cry down others. Well make some fruit juices from all the fruits that is on Island. Start the ball rolling. We need more local “healthy Juice” instead of the aerated juices.
LAYBAAH LAYBAAAH
IF YOU CANNOT hear will FEEL
DNO – Monday November 14 2011
“Government to reduce taxes on ‘healthy juices’.
Type in ‘government to reduce taxes’ in DNO’s search site.