Leacock congratulates teachers on strike action

Parliamentary representative for Central Kingstown St Clair Leacock has congratulated the president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union (SVGTU) on what the union deems to have been a successful strike action last Tuesday.

Speaking on the New Times Radio Programme on Wednesday, Leacock commended claims by SVGTU president Oswald Robinson that 40 per cent of teachers showed solidarity with the Union by staying away from work that day.{{more}}

Official figures of attendance at schools obtained by SEARCHLIGHT indicate that 20 per cent of the teachers stayed away.

“Even if it was 10 per cent, I would be satisfied. I’d be satisfied because they believed in something, and they were able to follow through and execute that which they believed in,” asserted Leacock.

He further described the backlash against the president of the Public Service Union Elroy Boucher as “unpardonable”, and criticized the Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves for speaking against Robinson and his supporters within the SVGTU.

“The teachers’ strike and the Government’s approach to the teachers is something on which we cannot lose sight of,” said Leacock.

The Opposition parliamentary representative accused the Prime Minister of treating Vincentians like subjects living on his estate, and encouraging them to divulge their private information with him, so that he could use it against them at a later date.

Leacock also criticized the members of the SVGTU executive who did not stand in solidarity with the call for strike action.

“…it is shame for anybody to be on an executive which calls for an action, especially an industrial issue… and to, yesterday, betray that trust of the leadership and of the teachers and of the students by showing up to work, in the face of what should have been a unified action,” he lamented.

“If you [are] on an executive and you do not feel you are a part of the decision, long before that you should speak out.”

Leacock added: “It means you would have been taking tales out the executive meetings back to the political directorate. You can’t serve two masters at the same time… you have to choose!” (JSV)