By Chantale Fletcher
PRESIDENT of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) Ancel Roget says no one should be forced into taking a vaccine.
“It should be education, persuasion and not coercion. Do not coerce anybody into taking the vaccine,” was one of the messages he had for Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowely and the Government.
In a Facebook live on Monday, Roget said, “We in JTUM, this morning are standing in solidarity and in defence of every single public servant as it is their right to take or refuse the vaccine.”
He said, “We are going to radically oppose you and your government imposing your unilateral will on the citizens of this country.
“We take this a serious offence on the level of disrespect to the most vulnerable, the public servants, to go after them as you believe they are without leadership.”
This is in response to the announcement by Dr Rowley that from mid-January all public servants should be vaccinated to work or they will not be paid.
Roget stated that vaccines have never been a term of employment or a collective agreement.
“So, it is wrong for anybody to impose vaccination on my members. The prime minister and his government was taking advantage of the vulnerability of public servants
“However, this issue will not stop here, as it will go from public servants to public spaces, and soon every employer will feel they can have a field day with this, if the government is allowed to get away with this.”
He also accused the Government of imposing a condition on the need for work and if persons do not adhere, they in effect would lock persons out from their employment.
Roget said any employer who chose to encourage or request through the collective bargaining process that any member be vaccinated must accept full liability. for anything that may occur after vaccination.
“One should not have to choose between to put bread on the table or to accept a vaccine into their body that they were not in agreement with.”
In addition, he also made reference to the discussions at the Industrial Relations Advisory Committee on Covid-19 vaccination workplace policy, but maintained there was never any agreement for mandatory vaccinations.
Rollout Action
Roget announced that all JTUM leaders would gather outside the Prime Minister’s office at White Hall at 10 am on Wednesday in observance of the Ministry of Health’s regulations and Covid-19 protocols to engage in communication against the government’s unilateral decisions.
He also sent a message to members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). He said, “We do not need permission to be standing outside White Hall, raising objection to the unilateral position of the PM.”
Roget said the country was under a very disrespectful and high handed dictatorship.
“However, we would be communicating to the dictator, let good sense prevail and if this does not occur other things will happen within the law.”
He said Dr Rowley was attacking citizens.
Roget said, “You were given a job by the population through the electoral process where citizens expressed their view, to ensure that the rights and lives of citizens were protected, but in effect, you are attacking in the most vicious way the citizens of this country.”
