Teachers Union anticipates victory in Court of Appeal

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union (SVGTU) believes that victory is certain stating that the Court of Appeal will uphold the ruling that the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate violated the constitutional rights of hundreds of public servants who refused to take the jab.

The SVGTU is represented by a  legal team which includes local lawyers Jomo Thomas, Zita Barnwell and is led by Dominican lawyer, Cara Shillingford; and is joined with public servants who have filed a case of appeal against the government. The other respondents are the Public Service Union and the Police Welfare Association.

Last Thursday, May 2, 2024, the union’s legal team, as well as counsel for the government presented their submissions virtually to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal before Justices Eddy Ventose, Gerhard Wallbank, and Paul Webster who reserved their judgment to be handed down at an unspecified date.

Teachers Union president, Oswald Robinson, said when the case was being tried in the High Court they were confident of a victory and Justice Esco Henry returned a ruling in their favour.

Back in March 2023, the High Court Judge delivered her ruling which said that the Covid vaccine mandate was “unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires, disproportionate and tainted by procedural impropriety”.

“When we as a union said we were confident and you see what played out in the [High] Court …”

“We go have one big celebration rally,”Robinson said with a chuckle.

He commended the legal team on the submissions made to the court in Thursday’s hearing.

“Our team did a wonderful job from the beginning…the arguments were well pronounced and I am happy that a lot more people were able to see.

“Our team was fully prepared, did our research and fine tuning. The day before when I spoke to Counsel [Jomo] Thomas…he said they were doing some additional reading.”

Robinson knocked the arguments presented by the legal team for the government, led by Senior Counsel, Anthony Astaphan, saying that it was ridiculous to have accused the teachers of abandoning their jobs when they continued to turn up for work daily, until they were eventually issued with dismissal letters.

He added that he believes the government is now well aware that they acted against the interest of public servants, and that the Appellate Court ruling will highlight this as well.