Hundreds of public servants heeded the call of their unions and turned up in the midday sun to protest in an effort to dissuade the government from appealing the recent ruling in the vaccine mandate case.
The judge deemed the legislation by the government unconstitutional, found that the decision to deem the public servants to have resigned without giving them an opportunity to be heard was ultra vires, procedurally improper, and contrary to the rules of natural justice, and issued certiorari to quash the decisions of the minister, commissioner of police, public service commission, and police service commission, ruling that the public servants never left their jobs.
Teschers on the picket told the St. Vincent Times that the government needs to reverse its intentions to appeal the case.
“We have suffered enough; the court has ruled, and it has ruled that the mandate was unconstitutional. Do the right thing according to what the law prescribes “, a former principal told the St. Vincent Times.
The president of the Teachers Union reiterated his call for the government to not follow through on appealing the ruling.
“We had ruled and said all that the government had done was unconstitutional, and we are here to show the world that we must stand up for fundamental rights and freedoms. We need to know how much the government spent on this case and how much it intends to spend on appealing. However, we are appealing to them once again to not follow through with their plans to appeal”.
The picket line is being held outside of the prime minister’s office in Kingstown.
