KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – The leader of the main opposition, New Democratic Party (NDP), Dr. Godwin Friday, has called on public sector unions to join the party to unseat the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration.
“This government is pursuing a vendetta against public servants. They are treating the public servants as though they are the enemy,” Friday told the NDP’s campaign-style “Hope Rally,” where the President of the Public Service Union (PSU), Elroy Boucher, was among those present.
“… this is not a time for mincing words. This is a time to stand up. I’ve been saying it recently. When they say you’re standing up, sometimes it means physically standing up, putting yourself on the line,” Friday said.
“So, I want to call the Public Service union, I want to call the Teachers’ Union, I want to contact the Police Welfare Association and not just the leadership of those organizations, but the members as well to acknowledge that this is a political solution and to join with the New Democratic Party in bringing this corrupt government down.
“We have to join together. We cannot do it alone because that is how he wishes for us to conduct ourselves — divided so that we can be picked apart. Coming together, we say embrace the offer; make the New Democratic Party this vehicle of change for all of us, and the change will come that so badly need,” Friday told the rally with the ULP through the mid-way point of its fifth consecutive term in office.”
Friday said an NDP administration would end “this policy of victimization” under which hundreds of public sector workers lost their jobs in December 2021 under the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The High Court has ruled that the government acted illegally in implementing the mandate and that the workers never ceased to hold their posts.
The court has further ordered that the government pay the workers all monies they would have earned since being off the job and damages for the harm caused by the government’s actions.
However, the government has appealed the ruling, and the Court of Appeal has granted a stay of execution of the High Court decision, pending the outcome of the appeal.
Friday said that an NDP administration would ensure that all workers affected by the vaccine mandate are re-employed and provided with their pensions and all accumulated benefits.
“Because that is a just and the fair thing to do, but it’s more than that; there is a political solution to this problem,” he said, noting that the government has already indicated that it intends to appeal the matter to the London-based Privy Council, the island’s highest court.
“But right now, there is a political solution to the problem because an NDP party in government will end the problem,” Friday said, accusing the government of not caring about the welfare of Vincentians.
“They care only about power. And they gave enough to secure themselves in power so that they can use and abuse it as they choose.”
He said that to continue with the ULP administration, which has been in office since March 2001. “would mean more division; it will mean more suffering; it will mean more politics of spite and victimization.
“Your political choices shouldn’t decide whether you can get a job. It shouldn’t decide whether your company can bid fairly for a contract. It should not decide if you’re a lawyer that you can get your work processed by government offices that are entitled and required to do it.”
The Opposition Leader acknowledged that a person’s political choices are their constitutional, God-given right.
“It should not determine these things for you. It tells you that our country is broken. And what is more serious, if they claim to love people so much, how can you, in God’s name, understand how they have been treating the public servants of this country who, for their valid reasons, for fear or for whatever they chose, decided not to be vaccinated, and the government decided to fire them?
“How can a government that says it cares about people continue to punish these people as though they are enemies of the state?”
He noted that some affected public sector workers had been in their posts for up to 25 years.
“… and then, in one fell swoop, their entire career is wiped out. They have to worry about their pension. They have to worry about what they are going to do, having worked for 25 years and approaching retirement.
“There are people in this country like that now. You know them in your communities. How can you say you love and treat this country’s people like that?” Friday said, urging public servants not to fear for their jobs under an NDP administration.
and then , Dr. Godwin Friday, has called on public sector unions){kind=link}