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"It is critical to note that vaccinations alone are not enough to stop the spread of the virus. Employers have a duty to continue to provide proper PPE to workers, and to ensure workplace infection prevention and control measures are adhered to. Our position cannot be taken as repealing the employers’ legal obligation to protect workers’ health." — NUPGE
Ottawa (26 August 2021) — For so many employees, in health care, education, corrections and in so many other workplaces, much of the debate about mandatory vaccinations is missing a critical factor.
This issue is very much about the right of employees to a safe workplace.
Individuals who argue that they have the right not to get vaccinated before they go to work have to realize that this is not an absolute right, that their right can be over–ridden by the right of everyone else to a safe workplace. This applies to union members as well. COVID-19 vaccination is a clear case where not getting the vaccine endangers others. These others include, not just the users of the many services we provide, as important as they are, but fellow employees.
This issue should be dealt with as a straightforward workplace health issue, not a debate based on political ideology or political advantage.
All the way through the pandemic, governments at least claimed that they were following the advice of the medical experts. When they shut down restaurants and businesses, when they issued stay–at–home orders — all those various orders and directives were, we were told, issued based on the expert advice governments were given. It was an imperfect system, and we couldn’t always feel comfortable that governments were actually following the expert advice, but by and large it appears that they were.
But now, at the crucial stage when things are re-opening and the Delta variant is surging, the question of mandatory vaccinations for workplaces is too often being left to individual employers. That is not right.
It wasn’t up to individual employers whether they shut down during the first, second, or third wave. They were given orders. It should not be okay now, that on such a fundamental question as vaccinations, many governments are encouraging a free–for–all.
We should be told, by the experts, what is safe and what isn’t, and then there should be across–the–board rules in place based on that information, rules that everyone has to follow.
It is hard to understand how one set of rules can be fine in place A, and another set of rules can be fine in place B, when the issue is the safety of the workforce.
Of course, there are very important pre-conditions to any vaccination requirement.
Any proposed requirement for vaccination should be demonstrably based on the best science available. That medical need, if it is valid, must be more than just an employer's, it must be shown to be based on medical science.
The implementation of any mandatory vaccination policy in a workplace needs to be carefully discussed with the applicable union beforehand.
Those with a genuine, well–established religious belief that prevents them from being vaccinated must be accommodated. That process is well established in labour law.
Certainly, there needs to be accommodation for those who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons. And, of course, we need to make sure that everyone has had the chance to be vaccinated; if not, they can’t be penalized for not getting their shots. Education about the vaccines should always take precedence over enforcement.
But, if all of these rules are followed, we need to accept the idea of mandatory vaccinations in the best interests of the majority and their right to a safe workplace.
Finally, it is also critical to note that vaccinations alone are not enough to stop the spread of the virus. Employers have a duty to continue to provide proper PPE to workers, and to ensure workplace infection prevention and control measures are adhered to. Our position cannot be taken as repealing the employer's legal obligation to protect workers’ health.
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| Larry Brown | Bert Blundon |
| President | Secretary-Treasurer |