President of St Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union Oswald Robinson says the two days of protest held by the Unions last week, was intended to bring about the awareness of the sufferings of their workers, and in particular, many of the teachers who have been affected by the government’s mandatory vaccination for frontline workers.
“Its shocking, the wickedness of the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and how they have fired many of our workers. This is not only impacting on their livelihood but their children and all those who depend upon them.”
On Friday (24 December), Robinson said the Union provided financial assistance to members who were affected and stated that other initiatives are being looked at to see how they can continue to assist.
“We also have in the pipeline a GoFundMe account which is being set up to give them some additional assistance.
We are linking with another organization to which we have provided names, and they will also come to their assistance.
We intend also to launch a radiothon sometime after Christmas to call on the nation and persons throughout the Caribbean to pledge support to assist our workers”.
Robinson said one of the appalling things is that persons who have been directly affected are teachers who have done many, many years of service.
“These are persons who have contributed significantly to quality education in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. And I cannot understand how the government would be so wicked to fire quality persons who have produced so much, at the expense of poor quality education”.
Robinson said what has happened in SVG is something astonishing and unprecedented.
“It is unprecedented in the history of this country that the government could fire almost 200 teachers.
We have already filed in court these matters seeking judicial review on the government’s vaccine mandate for frontline workers. We are also filing a constitutional motion against the government of SVG”, Robinson said.
