A clearly upset Keith Mitchell-led government in St George has served notice that it intends to appeal a high court judge ruling today which clears the way for public officers in Grenada to be paid billions of dollars in pension.
Attorney-at-law, James “Jimmy” Bristol, QC who led the team of defense lawyers that argued the case before high court judge, Justice Raulston Glasgow last year told THE NEW TODAY that the administration reacted to the ruling by immediately informing the court that an appeal will be filed to overturn the ruling.
According to Bristol, the junior lawyers in his law firm who were present in court for the landmark ruling reported that the State intends to challenge the Glasgow judgement which effectively clears the way for a State pension to be paid to all public officers who joined the service after 1983.
“They are appealing – they gave notice to the judge that they are appealing. They notified the court that they are going to appeal,” he said.
With the suspension of the Grenada Constitution by the 1979-83 left-leaning People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) of late Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, the Pension act was left in abeyance as the then regime established the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to look after the needs of public officers.
When the constitution was re-instated following the collapse of the Grenada Revolution, the public sector unions on the island – Public Workers Union (PWU), Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT) and the Technical & Allied Workers Union (TAWU) felt that pensions for public officers were automatically restored and a lengthy court battle ensued over the years.
An elated Bristol, QC said: “We haven’t got the written judgment yet but he (the judge) upheld the motion and he declared the Pension Disqualification act unconstitutional which is what the Court of Appeal did previously”.
“We were successful. I am waiting to get the full thing (judgment). I didn’t take the judgement because we didn’t know that it was being handed down till this morning and I wasn’t in the office so I had to rely on my Juniors’ notes.
“That’s correct – we are successful. So hopefully they will have to deal with that in light of the pending election. The timing couldn’t be better”.
Bristol warned that if the Mitchell government went ahead and file an appeal then the message is clear, “it shows that you really don’t give a dam about the public officers and their pension.”
He said the Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) regime will be sending a very clear message to public officers that “it doesn’t want to pay pension” to them.
“That’s really terrible,” he quipped.
The restoration of pension was a major vote-catcher for Prime Minister Mitchell on the eve of the 2018 general election when he signed a deal with the Presidents of GUT and TAWU, Lyden Lewis and Andre Lewis respectively but it never materialised after the clean sweep of the polls by NNP.
Apart from Bristol, the two other local attorneys who helped form the defense team are former Attorney General, Cajeton Hood and Ruggles Ferguson of Ciboney Chambers.
Senior Counsel from Trinidad & Tobago, Douglas Mendes led the state team of lawyers in the case against public officers.
Today’s court victory for public officers came as the PWU was holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at its head office along the Port Highway in Tanteen.