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Dominica

State workers, government at loggerheads

Published:Wednesday | November 13, 2019 | 12:40 AM

ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC):

The Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) says the government has made no offer of a salary increase for public servants for the three-year period ending 2021.

The union will meet with its membership today, said DPSU General Secretary Thomas Letang following the latest round of talks here on Monday.

“No mention was made of salary increases or, let me say, the proposal from the government, and at the commencement of the meeting, we made it clear to the government team that the issue we are discussing is salary and anything else like productivity is something that some in,” he told reporters.

Earlier this year, Letang had announced that the union had written to the government regarding the negotiations for the period 2018-21. He said the union was seeking a 10 per cent salary increase over the period.

Prior to the presentation of the 2019-20 national budget in July, the Roosevelt Skerrit administration was urged to include provisions to increase public officers’ salaries.

“I believe that budget provisions should be made to pay public officers a salary increase,” Letang said then.

He said that the union was prepared to walk out of the latest round of talks if the issue of salary increases was not placed on the agenda.