(Excerpts of Dr Friday’s presentation at a recently held meeting)
When I stand here, I do it because I want to see St Vincent and the Grenadines becomes a better place. And in the new Democratic Party that is the vehicle I have chosen for doing so. And again tonight, as my predecessors in this esteemed office, as leaders of this great party have done in the past, is to extend an invitation to all people in this country who want to see St Vincent and the Grenadines on a path to progress and development, to join with us to make that happen. Tonight, when I listened, I had some prepared words you know. But sometimes, you just have to go where the spirit leads you deal with the things as they come.
When we were planning this meeting, I thought about the three main subject matters that we say we would deal with, which are the things most on people’s mind. One, the vaccine mandate and the ruling of the court vindicating the unions, the teachers, the public servants and the police officers who stood up for their rights and for all those people in the country who stood with them. It is true that not everyone stood with them on the streets of Kingstown. Some stayed in their homes. I would rather they come out and stand up as well, because the truth is, sometimes standing up means actually physically standing up. It means putting your body on the line and being counted. And, I want to say that I admire the courage and applaud the unions who took the matter to the court.
We know it’s not an easy thing. And for those public servants, teachers, police officers who said that they will wait for the judgment of the court; it could not have been easy. So, when I said that we must have at least extend an invitation to the unions to be here, because one of the subject matters that we are dealing with is the ruling of the court in the vaccine mandate case. Let’s call it that.
And, while we have been as a party supporting the fight for justice for those persons who said that they could not choose between their body and their bread; that it was unconscionable, it was wrong for the government to put them in that position, as the court said, without even trying to understand the individual particular circumstances. We have to feel for them. We have to stand with them.
So, I reached out. And we will continue to do so. But, when Oswald Robinson the president of the teachers union spoke, put yourself in that position sixteen months ago of somebody who has been working 20 or 25 years; and is suddenly confronted with a decision that takes away their mortgage payments; the trip to go to Toronto to visit family; the children who are planning to go to school, to college, to university, and all of that now is in jeopardy. Put yourself in that position. So, when the decision of the High Court came down and people think that is a big slap in Ralph’s face that it is. But more importantly, think of the relief of those persons whose livelihoods were taken from them. So, I was very happy to hear it from Mr. Robinson himself. And, he put a perspective on it. That sometimes we don’t really fully grasp it, because I know that must have been a lot of nervous moments for him.
I want to congratulate the legal team as well for their confidence that they inspired or instilled within their clients who they were representing to say, well, listen; we will prevail. It’s not an easy thing.
And, now we come to a situation where the court has ruled that the government was wrong. In a very comprehensive decision in almost everything that the litigants put forward as being wrong about this decision, they were upheld by the court. And, it is not just the teachers who breathed a sigh of relief. It is not just the public servants who celebrated and were happy. It was not just the union leaders who took that decision to court or the lawyers. I’m a lawyer myself I know the pins and needles that you are on when the judgment is about to come down.
It is not just them. It is the entire country. It is the churches. So many religious leaders stood up against this terribly wrong decision that the government made. Ordinary people around the place said it was wrong. As I said, they didn’t all come out and protest in the streets. And now that the judgment has come down even more people are saying enough is enough. Put the people back to work.
Let them go back in the classroom and teach our children. Let the public servants and the health care workers and the police officers who want to return go back to their jobs because they’re not giving them something. The court recognized that they never lost it. It’s just a recognition on the part of the government. What the court said that those persons whom you deemed to have left their jobs. That no such thing occurred. They’re entitled to their benefits. They are entitled to more than that. They are entitled to respect. What they are doing now, rubbing salt into the wound, threatening to draw it out on to the Privy Council with your taxpayers’ money.
In a situation where on the ground the circumstances have changed; people are learning to live with COVID. What are you trying to prove? What are you trying to prove? Ralph was wrong. He got it wrong. What happened? You can’t be wrong? And, to appeal this decision in these circumstances, we know there is a right of appeal. But, in these circumstances, it compounds the injury. It makes the wrong even bigger.