St Vincent & the Grenadines: Teachers spearhead strike against govt’s mandate vaccination policy

After the government terminated unvaccinated teachers, their counterparts are now spearheading the strike against the government mandate Covid-19 vaccination policy ahead of Christmas. 

A rally has been planned by the teacher’s trade union on December 22 and 23, 2021, outside the financial complex. 

The union has called on all the teachers, whether inoculated or not, to join the march or protest with the motive of saying no to mandatory vaccination. 

Several protest pictures are being shared by the union on their Facebook page. Teachers have been now striking against the government for more than two weeks now. 

More than twelve teachers received their termination letters without getting payment of December month after they failed to comply with the government’s policy of mandate vaccination after Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves warned about the consequences of the protest. 

As per the government’s policy, only the vaccinated teachers would get their salaries. Earlier, the trade union cited that they would go through a legal procedure and would fight for the teachers. 

Union’s president Oswald Robinson then asserted, “We are monitoring very closely, and we are certainly taking action. Our legal counsels are supposed to be filing sometime today or tomorrow, and we are going forward in full force, straight to the end. We are not going to give up here; we are not going to leave anybody unaccounted for”. 

Seeing the situation, the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines and the Education Ministry has hired teachers so that the study of students is not compromised, including the retired ones, of which a warning was issued to the teachers’ union. 

The termination letter acknowledged, “Accordingly, on behalf of the – Public Service Commission – I have to inform you that you are deemed to have resigned from your office with effect from December 7, 2021, & have ceased to be an officer in accordance with Regulation 31 of the Public Service Commission Regulation, – Chapter 10 of the Laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines“