PMC protests outside Ministry of Education

Members of the People’s Movement for Change (PMC) and a handful of supporters gathered in protest outside the Ministry of Education last Thursday, April 21,{{more}} to “support the authenticity and integrity of the Collective Agreement made between the Government and the SVG Teachers’ Union”.

General Secretary of the PMC, Jomo Thomas, said that the protest was held as a way of sensitizing the public about the existence of the Agreement and to highlight the fact that the Agreement is valid.

Article 16 of the Collective Agreement signed between the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the SVG Teachers’ Union states that “a member of the Union of at least three years standing, shall on application, be granted leave-of-absence to contest National/General/Local Elections. The leave of absence shall be no pay for a period not exceeding six months. In the event that the member is unsuccessful, that member shall return to his/her original post or one of equivalent status, all benefits intact. The resumption of the duty must be at the beginning of a school term.”

“Our effort in the PMC is not so much about Mr. Daniel, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thomas,” Thomas said, referring to the three teachers who are currently without jobs after contesting general elections on a New Democratic Party (NDP) ticket last year. “Our focus here today is to speak to the fact that the Collective Bargaining agreement between the teachers and the Government was legal, was valid. It was legitimate and government should honour that agreement,” Thomas continued.

Oscar Allen, Chairman of the PMC, told SEARCHLIGHT that he considers the Agreement a good move, but that the Government’s failure to stay true to the Agreement can only be “something like spite” or “withdrawal from democratic position to a dictatorship position.”

Also at the protest, Hugh Wyllie, Industrial Relations Officer of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union (SVGTU), told SEARCHLIGHT that he is supporting the PMC in bringing the public’s attention to the issue.

The teachers in question are Addison Thomas, Kenroy Johnson and Elvis Daniel. In March this year, the SVGTU called on the Government to re-employ the trio, who contested the elections for the NDP and lost. (OS)