Indarsingh: Mandatory Vaccines, Conmanship and Deception of the Highest Order
The Prime Minister’s announcement that public servants must be vaccinated to receive their salary shows conmanship and deception of the highest order.
This country is in a position of double digit daily deaths and triple digit infection numbers due to the blatant failure of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and his government to simply do their job and keep this country safe.
We have moved from blaming Kamla to blaming Covid, and now to blaming unvaccinated citizens and public servants.
It is unconscionable that within a year of praising public servants for being frontline heroes against the Covid virus, the Prime Minister is coming now to threaten their salaries.
What will happen to public servants making mortgage payments? What will be the impact on NIS and health surcharge payments? What will be the ability of these officers to take care of their families?
There are many other components in the fight against Covid-19 that have collapsed under this Government. Wanton reports have emerged that public offices are not being sanitized, that sanitizer is not being provided for public servants nor the public, that social distancing has not been enforced and that contact tracing had collapsed.
Has the Occupational Safety and Health Authority and Agency (OSHA) been active and mobile in ensuring that work places in and out of the public sector are complying with the guidelines in the Public Health Ordinance?
There are also reports that the parallel health care system is being pathetically managed by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, and that the complications which arise from this mismanagement is partly responsible for the high death rates.
The Prime Minister needs to look into these reports and the other components of the fight against Covid-19, and fix these matters first before seeking to shove vaccines down the throats of lawful citizens who deserve the constitutional freedom to decide.
Making vaccines mandatory for pay is a change in the terms of conditions of employment for public servants. Such changes in terms and conditions can only be done by the Public Service Commission, and the Prime Minister is being unilateral, high handed and out of touch as usual.
Has the PM consulted with the National Trade Union Centre of Trinidad and Tobago (NATUC), the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), the Federation of Independent Trade Union and NGOs (FITUN), the Public Services Association (PSA), the Prisons Officers Association (POA), the Fire Officers Association of Trinidad and Tobago, the Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses Association (TTRNA), the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social and Welfare Association (TTPSSWA), the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) or any other union with members involved in the public service and its subsidiaries?
It is evident that the Prime Minister did not host any consultation with the respected recognized majority Trade Unions and as such without same collective agreements will be deemed illegal and goes against all tenants of good Industrial Relations Practices. According to Section 4 (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago every individual has “the right to life, liberty and, security of person and enjoyment of property” which in this scenario will be the workers’ salaries.
One must take into consideration the President of the Industrial Court Her Honour Mrs. Deborah Thomas-Felix speech during the Special Sitting of Opening of the 2021-2022 Industrial Court, where she stated that “mandatory vaccinations cannot be implemented unilaterally by employers….and that while employers are permitted to introduce policy for new employees, consultation is mandatory for it apply to existing workers.”
It is clear that we are here because of many deficiencies, including the government’s failure to consult with labour. This government has had an anti-worker, anti-union approach to its rule, and their decision to make vaccinations mandatory without consultation is proof of this. It is evident that the Prime Minister is politically pressuring and bullying the Independence of the Industrial Courts and its judgements.
From day one, this Government has shown pathetic leadership in the fight against Covid-19, and the making of vaccines mandatory for pay is a flagrant insult to the public servants of this country, who are being made into a scapegoat for the government’s habit of failure.
The Opposition stands with all unions and workers in rejecting forced vaccines. While we encourage everyone to get vaccinated, our citizens are not pigs in a pen to be corralled by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and his hoggish, incompetent leadership.
RUDRANATH INDARSINGH
Member of Parliament for Couva South and SHADOW RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR and TOBAGO AFFAIRS