From Caribbean360

DPSU general secretary Thomas Letang said negotiations with the telecommunications company over plans to retrench workers had broken down. He said the company was seeking to outsource its services.

ROSEAU, Dominica, Wednesday January 8, 2014, CMC – The Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) Wednesday warned it was prepared to “do something about the situation” as it seeks Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments support for its ongoing industrial problem with the British telecommunications company, LIME.

DPSU general secretary Thomas Letang said negotiations with the telecommunications company over plans to retrench workers had broken down. He said the company was seeking to outsource its services.

“A number of employees at LIME are going to be made…redundant. So what LIME would be doing is concentrating on their mobile services… but all the other services…will be outsourced.

“We were looking at the whole question of compensation, the separation package…and that’s where we have some problems and as I said it appears to be a regional thing.

“We are at a juncture where we have to do something about the situation,” Letang said, noting that the union had written to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit who has promised to raise the issue with his regional colleagues.

“But as I said time is running out and even if he had taken it to the  level of CARICOM, it means that is very likely that the redundancy, the separation from LIME…would have taken place even before that reaches CARICOM and therefore what the kind of attention we are requesting would not have taken place.

“And therefore while we…do not want it to appear that we are embarking upon industrial action because we the prime minister has not been involved…our discussions with LIME have actually broken down.

“We are not getting LIME to make any improvement towards what they are offering. But I think we have reached the point where we have to face the criticism and you have to do what you have to do,” he said, reiterating “we are at a juncture where we have to do something about the situation”.

“If you ask me how I feel about the whole thing, very disappointed and at this time, while I the union has tried as much as possible…we believe that it appears we may have no choice but to take some action,” Letang said.

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