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SVG: PSU in letter to PM says vaccine mandate is illogical and uneven

5 Min Read

Rt.Hon. Ralph E Gonsalves 

Prime minister

Ministerial Building

Kingstown

Dear Dr Gonsalves:

On January 11th and again on the 12th 2022, as  Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, you suspended the Budget Debate on account of eight (8) members of the Government side of the House testing positive with SARS-CoV-2.

The government has always believed that its vaccination mandate was necessary to create a safe workplace. Thus, the purpose of Statutory Rules and Order (SR &O) 2021 No: 28 is cited as “to prevent, control and suppress the risk of the spread of the coronavirus-disease in public bodies”.

In pursuance of Regulation 5 of SR&O 2021 No: 28, the Government issued over 200 dismissal letters to public servants who failed or refused to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Similar letters of dismissal were given to public workers who applied for but were not granted an exemption. Many of these workers, categorised as front-line workers, had given more than a decade of service to the State. They stand to lose their pension benefits if not vindicated in the courts. They are now unemployed, many without the means to take care of themselves and their families.

The Government’s predicament in Parliament on January 11th and 12th 2022, exposes the illogicality, irrational and disproportionate nature of the mandatory vaccination policy. It has been known that none of the vaccines prevents anyone from contracting or transmitting SARS-CoV-2. Yet, the Government went ahead with its policy.

The PSU and the SVGTU maintain that any vaccine program established in St. Vincent and the Grenadines ought to be voluntary. Each Vincentian must exercise their right to bodily autonomy and integrity and exercise the right to choose based on informed consent regarding any medical treatment or procedure.

We again unequivocally declare that we are very concerned about the continued health and safety of all workers and their families.

Given that the virus is spread by both vaccinated and unvaccinated alike, evidence suggests that vaccination cannot promote a safe workplace and that rigorous frequent testing is the best way to create a safe workplace for public bodies. Despite the facts, healthy public servants who posed no threat to their co-workers or contributed to an unsafe workplace were dismissed from their jobs. This action, in our view, represents a historical wrong against public servants by your Government. Prime Minister, we urge you and your Cabinet to right this historic wrong by repealing SR&O 2021 No:28 and reinstating all dismissed public servants with their benefits intact.

In your 2005 budget address, you stated:

 “The public servants, teachers, nurses, policemen/women are very special to this government and this Prime Minister. I will never forget for as long as I live their voluntary self-sacrifice in the difficult weeks and months following the terrorist events in the USA on September 11, 2001, which affected our country’s economy so terribly. Their decision to accept voluntarily a partial wage freeze for one year bonded me and my government to them more than they would ever know. To be sure, from time to time, there will be hiccups in our relationship and difficulties may sometimes arise. But the bedrock foundation cannot be shaken. I know that their employment situation is not always easy but life has never been universally easy. Still, this government has tried to do its best by you, the public servants, and we appreciate your efforts”.

We share the same belief that “from time to time, there will be hiccups in our relationship and difficulties may sometimes arise, but the bedrock foundation cannot be shaken”. In this vein, Prime Minister, we urge you to convene an urgent meeting with our unions and the police welfare association to address and resolve all of the issues arising from the government’s decision to institute and enforce SR&O 2021 No:28.

Yours respectfully

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