Hundreds of Public Officers on island who are members of the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) will be receiving a salary bonus which is equivalent to two months’ salary at the end of this month.
That information was revealed by General Secretary of the DPSU, Thomas Letang in an interview with state-owned DBS Radio.
“Last week I had some discussions with the CPO [Chief Personnel Officer) who assured me that the bonus, which is equivalent to two month’s salary, will be paid at the end of this month,” he stated.
Recently the DPSU and the government reached an agreement on salary negotiations for the 2015-2018 triennium. Among the agreements reached was a three percent salary increase which will take effect for the fiscal year 2017/2018 on July 1st 2017 which, according to Letang, means that these public officers are “owed two months back pay already that is retroactive.”
Letang said the CPO, Gloria Joseph, wanted to find out from the DPSU whether it was okay that the retroactive (the 3 percent) for the final year “whether it was okay to pay at the end of October since they would not have enough time to process payments.”
“It’s a lot of work that needed to be done, so we told her that it was okay, but we agreed that public officers will be paid the two months at the end of this month equivalent of two months,” he explained.
Letang pointed out that only public officers who belong to the DPSU will receive the bonus
“My understanding is that all members of the DPSU will be paid,” he explained. “If you belong to another union and that union has not closed off on negotiations, the members will not be paid. We just want to say to members of the public that once you are a member of the DPSU you will be paid.”
Letang explained that a public officer who is receiving a salary of $3,000 at the end of this month, will see on their payment slip will be the normal salary plus another $6000.
“So somebody getting $3000 will go home with $9000,” he noted. “We have to bear in mind that the $6,000 or whatever the two months works out to that they will not be paying income tax on that.”
Letang pointed out that public officers are very happy and pleased with the negotiations.