NDP senator exposes untruths of Gonsalves’ reinstatement claim

Government senator Jemalie John used his maiden address to Parliament to debunk the claim by Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves that the New Democratic Party (NDP) administration was continuing the Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) policy of reinstating public sector workers fired under the ULP’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in 2021.

John, a lawyer and deputy speaker of the House of Assembly, cited media reports indicating that Gonsalves and his ULP government had been opposed to reinstating the workers.

He said that the former prime minister revised his party’s policy as he led off the debate on the EC$1.9 billion fiscal package that Prime Minister Godwin Friday has asked lawmakers to approve for 2026.

The senator said that people have certain God-given rights, including religious liberty.

“And it is good to know that retribution still comes for those who trample underfoot our God-given rights and freedoms,” said John, who began his presentation by emphasising his Christian faith.

Hundreds of public sector workers were fired for failing to take a COVID-19 jab as the Gonsalves-led cabinet had ordered in November 2021.

Public sector unions sponsored a lawsuit challenging the dismissals and loss of benefits, and the High Court ruled in favour of the workers in March 2023, declaring the government’s action unconstitutional.

Even before that court ruling, Gonsalves, the then-prime minister, had urged the workers to reapply for their jobs, saying that while they would not be given backpay, they would not lose their accrued benefits.

A significant number of workers returned to their jobs even as the matter was appealed before the Court of Appeal, which overturned the lower court’s decision in February 2025.

The unions have appealed to the London-based Privy Council, the nation’s highest court, and the hearing is pending.

From the inception, the NDP, then in opposition, which had opposed mandatory vaccination, had promised to reinstate the workers with all benefits intact.

The NDP implemented its reinstatement policy after winning the Nov. 27 general elections, but deferred the backpay for the income workers lost as a result of the mandate.

John noted to Parliament that during contribution to the debate, Gonsalves said:

“Setting aside, Madam Speaker, the issue of whether anyone was fired, the fact is that the NDP is merely continuing the ULP’s reinstatement policy. The simple arithmetical fact will be that when all is said and done, more public servants have been reinstated under the ULP administration than under the NDP because most of those who wanted to return had already done so.”

The senator, however, quoted an August 2022 iWitness News report, “Reinstating unvaxxed teachers would mean mandate was illegal — PM”, that quoted the position of the Gonsalves government as he explained it at a press conference.

During that press conference, Gonsalves said his government could not simply reinstate the workers, as doing so would imply that the government ought not to have acted as it did.

“If we say we reinstate workers, we will be saying that we ought not to have passed the law in the first place. But the law, which was passed, was passed as part of the COVID measures,” Gonsalves said then.

“Now, if I were to say or the government were to say that you’re reinstating, it means that you are admitting that what you did was not a necessary thing to do,” he had further stated.

“… therefore, if it is a reinstatement, you will have to pay the persons for the period … that they haven’t been working, because you will say that you would have unlawfully dismissed them in that period by acting unconstitutionally.”

Gonsalves, a lawyer, had further said, “… reinstatement, in law, has a different meaning…”

John told Parliament that “it has always been the position of the ULP administration that it is not reinstating public servants or compensating them”

He pointed out that it was Gonsalves who had highlighted the distinction and, in August 2022, explained why “reinstatement” could not be used.

“… and he has been consistent on it up until yesterday. Now he is saying that we are continuing the ULP’s reinstatement policy and they reinstated more workers when, in actual fact, the ULP administration did not reinstate a single worker terminated under the vaccine mandate law. Not one!” John stated, adding that during the campaign for last November’s general election, the ULP doubled down on their position.

“And it is my firm view that it is precisely that position that best explains why today there is only one elected member on that side of the house,” the senator said, referring to the 14-1 election results in favour of the NDP.

John said that on Nov. 29, in his first address to the nation after the election defeat, Gonsalves said, “there remain in me no personal vanities or demons to overcome”.

The government senator said he interpreted that to mean that Gonsalves considers himself to have done nothing wrong and has no apologies to make.

During his response to the budget, Gonsalves had quoted Justice of Appeal Paul Webster, who, in overturning the lower court’s ruling in the vaccine mandate case, said:

“It is unfortunate that the actions of the employees resulted in their deemed resignations from their employment. However, the government was faced with a drastic crisis of unprecedented proportions, and that was causing significant health issues and loss of life.”

John, debating the budget, said:

“Well, in response to what was said yesterday, Justice of Appeal Paul Webster made his determination and the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines made theirs. One of my favourite authors put it this way: ‘We may always bear with a friend’s infirmities and with his ignorance, but never with his vices.’”

He noted that the ULP government had provided an exemption from the vaccine mandate on religious grounds if it could make alternative arrangements to accommodate the employee.

“Of course, this important qualification was included so that even those who had legitimate grounds to get an exemption were still fired,” John said.

“But notice how under the old regime of rehiring, even with the administrative challenge of previous jobs already taken, suddenly the state was somehow miraculously able to make alternative arrangements to accommodate employees. Couldn’t do it during COVID, but now you could do it after.

It just goes to show that it was always possible to make alternative arrangements. But this law was never about public health in the first place,” John said.

“You cannot manufacture a problem, then sell the solution. Here they are, trying to score political points for reinstating workers whom they fired. That is why in my opening remarks, I highlighted that some disasters are natural while others are manmade.”

The senator said this has been a recurring theme for the opposition: “… wanting to offer advice on how to deal with problems they themselves created.

“Manmade disasters are often worse than natural disasters. Sometimes not only in their scale and impact but because they are sometimes completely avoidable,” the senator told Parliament.