PSU continues to push for appointment of public officers in temporary positions – Letang

DPSU General Secretary, Thomas Letang

General Secretary of the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU), Thomas Letang, said the union continues to push for the appointment of public officers who have been in temporary positions for as long as ten (10) years.

His comments came following statements made by the Minister for Public Service Reform, Gretta Roberts, during the weekly Anou Palay Programme with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit on the weekend.

The Minister announced that 130 public officers are expected to be appointed soon.

Letang, who spoke to Dominica News Online (DNO), made it clear that the DPSU was not going to celebrate because of that statement since it’s not the first time this is being said.

“The union continues to push for the appointment of those public officers, some of them who have been in those temporary positions for as long as 10 years,” he said. “I think we have to continue as the leading trade union to use every opportunity that is available to us to continue our plea, our appeal for those people to be appointed.”

According to Letang, the union will be writing to the government this week to remind them of that repeated commitment, “and to say that we are hoping or we will be expecting that at long last these people are going to be appointed.”

Letang further stated that once appointed, those public officers will be given the commitment that their years of service,  this period will be taken into consideration.

“It is not unusual that people upon retirement can make a request for their non-appointed years to be taken into consideration for working out their gratuity,” he stated.

Letang continued, “This is something that the Minister for Finance can accept or reject.”

He added, “But we are saying let us do it very early so that it would be on their file because it is no fault of theirs that they were not appointed.”

The DPSU official said the union will continue to bring pressure to bear on those who are responsible during the appraisals, “because you can only be appointed after there have been appraisals done.”

He said the senior public officers have to ensure that their appraisals are done.

“We will also bring pressure to bear on those who are responsible, that is the permanent secretary to make the recommendations for appointments to the public service commission, to do that without any delay,” he remarked.  “The work is not over, we will continue to do what we have to do.”

Letang said further that he is fully aware that the Public Service Commission is concerned that these people are acting or in temporary positions and not being appointed, “and I am aware of moves that have also been made by the Public Service Commission to influence the submission of recommendations  for the appointment of those officers.”

Meantime, Letang said the PSU was less vocal as it relates to salary negotiations due to Covid-19, however, he pointed out that the union will continue to push in that regard.

“During the period people were home and we had to deal with this Covid-19, I won’t say that we were laid back, but we were not pushing,” he indicated. “We realize that the country was facing that crisis and therefore we were a little quiet about the salaries.”

Letang revealed that the union plans to meet with the executives this week, “and that is high on our agenda.”

He noted that the interview with Prime Minister Skerrit wasn’t the appropriate forum to hold discussions about current salary negotiations.

“Because we cannot negotiate salaries through the media, but as I said, we will be meeting this week to decide what is our next step with the issue of salary negotiations,” Letang stated.

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

11 Comments

  1. Ibo France
    July 11, 2020

    This is my fourth comment about Mr. Thomas Letang, the General Secretary of the DPSU. I’m so disillusioned about his cowardice and his suspected collusion with the enemy of the public servants.
    Can anyone honestly tell me what he has done for the beleaguered working class for the last ten plus (10+) years)? The man is too comfortable in his lofty position doing absolutely nothing for the suffering workers.
    He and Skerrit are cut from the same cloth. Both are lazy, clueless, uninspiring, conniving, deceptive and hypocritical. They are modern day Judases.

  2. Ibo France
    July 11, 2020

    @Bwa-Banday

    Your comment about Mr. Letang is perfectly spot on. The DPSU is completely useless as the General Secretary, Mr. Letang, is of no practical good to the union. He is such a monumental failure in this powerful position, yet, he gets nothing done. It sometimes crosses my mind that he is working hand in glove with the corrupt ……… enterprise of Skerrit.

  3. Batibou River
    July 10, 2020

    I’ll make it short and sweet: STOP talking and shut the country down!

  4. Bwa-Banday
    July 9, 2020

    Really Letang! You like Skerrit need to go!
    Skerrit and his cabal have you figured out and this is why there is nothing you can say or threaten to do that they take seriously. What a waste you are. You literally sat there with ALL that power in your hands and watch Skerrit steal the last election from honest Dcans and did nothing but talk karkar! Even when you had the perfect opportunity to save Dominica when the protesters were tear gassed and one shot in the arm while protesting at the state house and a few days before elections when some of your members were tear gassed in Bawi you did nothing.

    As far as I am concerned you are nothing but the Biggest Empty Barrel on island……making the most noise. Talk, Talk and more talk. You remind me of why the parrot is our national bird. Minister “Whiteless” once Said to me: “What Letang, what DPSU? Letang is a toothless lion”. And boy was he right….SMMFH

  5. Original
    July 9, 2020

    what really is Thomas Letang doing for the DPSU? what strategy is he using to apply the pressure that he mentioned? So in all these union members, you mean to tell me that there is no one who could replace this guy? this has to be a joke!

  6. Concerned
    July 9, 2020

    As a public servant, I’ve had my runnings with Mr. Letang and let’s just say I was quite disappointed in him. Really a let down. I’ve since moved on from this hell hole of a public service. Good riddance.

  7. Ibo France
    July 9, 2020

    This is my second comment on this article. The present Skerrt-led maladministration will become bolder and more oppressive because the people remain deafeningly quiet amidst all the corruption, persecution, transgressions and excesses swirling, in plain sight, around them.
    I take great umbrage to the unconscionable silence of the lawyers, the regular media, the clergy and the very prominent business persons. These should be leading the fight against the widespread corruption; the selected persecution; the entrenched victimization; the discrimination that is practised and has been perfected by Skerrit and his criminal enterprise.
    Silence gives consent. By their bewildering silence, these entities are complicit in the brutalization, suppression and oppression of the Dominican people. Shame on them❗❗

    • KID ON THE BLOCK
      July 12, 2020

      Ibo MALAPROP France, Shame on you too. Why don’t you lead the way instead of sitting your lazy A in front a computer and spew you bag of garbage.
      You spectators are the best players but literally don’t worth a S…it.
      ………………………………………………………………………………
      It’s a shame to see, hear and know stranger appreciate what’s going on and happening in the country than you(uwp) useless wicked people.
      No one is perfect but when something is good say so. You all are too bias and full of hatred towards one man’= Skerrit.

      ADMIN: We won’t allow posters to accuse people of a crime against the state because of disagreement with what they are saying. It can be seen as an attempt to squelch their freedom of expression which is a right under the constitution.

      Please refer to our comments policy: https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/policies/#comment-policy

      For those interested, the constitution can be found here: http://www.dominica.gov.dm/laws/chapters/chap1-01-sch1.pdf

      • Batibou River
        July 14, 2020

        Dog, you really are a gutter dog if I have ever seen one. What ‘good’ are you referring too? Red Clinic, NEP, free houses, etc.? I would not refer to this as good, it’s purely a rewards by Skerrit for people voting for him and supporting him. If you want to give the ‘good’ a proper name, call it By its real name – SOCIAL INJUSTICE. But don’t take my word for it. Ask Skerrit and Reggie to tell you the truth how the new houses were allocated…

  8. L C Matthew
    July 9, 2020

    Letang i was a young teacher at PSS from 98 to 2000 when there was an asbestos problem. My uncle passed away from cancer around that time and the school was interrupted when the MOH decided PSS was a health hazard and asbestos need to be removed. You came by and had a bunch of meetings but nothing really got done after that. There are teachers who taught with me then who a decade later was not appointed. I think your are a good person and mean well but when the PM of Dominica keep bull Sh….the civil servants and you yet to refuse to lead the shut down of country its time to vacate post. You have been there too long and not effective. 14 years employment without appointment is criminal to me. Yes you may have some actions but a charismatic leader must be able to rally all unions to one force and under your tenure with have seen the continued manipulation of the working folks while the government squander state resources. You need to make way for someone who mean business.

  9. Ibo France
    July 9, 2020

    Mr. Letsng, as the General Secretary of the DPSU, your tenure has been less than stellar. You have been sleeping at the wheel and found wanting. Your inability to galvanize your union members to stand up and exert their rights to be appointed to the public service; for long overdue increase in salary and better working conditions. Truth be told, Mr. Skerrit and his bandits are running rough shod over you and the DPSU. When an employer realizes that his/her employees’ representative is all bark and do bite, he scoffs at your threats. In other words, he totally disregards you. The DPSU is a paper tiger under your watch.
    A lion does not worry about the noise of sheep.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available