Government union president wants all employees to get COVID vaccine

Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union’s Jason MacLean says there will be ‘serious trouble’ for employees who don’t want to get vaccinated

HALIFAXtoday\ Chris Stoodley

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After Nova Scotia announced that all civil servants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the union president for the province’s government employees said he hopes everyone listens.

“We want everybody to get vaccinated,” Jason MacLean, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees (NSGEU), said. “Some people simply aren’t going to get vaccinated and we’re going to have to deal with those issues when they come up.”

Last Wednesday, Nova Scotia announced that all provincial public servants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 30 or risk going on unpaid leave.

It follows the federal government’s decision to make vaccines mandatory for federal public servants, travellers and transport workers, along with similar decisions for correctional workers, people in regulated child-care centres, teachers and health-care workers.

MacLean told NEWS 95.7 that the NSGEU has been hearing from people on both sides of the issue, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, but he added that people — even on the latter side — haven’t been overwhelming.

“We’re not hearing from too many that are anti-vaxx,” he said. “I have to say, we’re about 34,000 members, and if you take 10 per cent of that that are unvaccinated, then you’d have around 3,400 people.

“But we’re not hearing too much from them. We are hearing from some and we’ve always strongly encouraged members to follow Public Health guidance … we really want people to be safe at work.”

The NSGEU released its own statement in August encouraging its members to get vaccinated against preventable illnesses.

It includes that if an employer introduces a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, it must comply with a few principles including:

• Consulting with the NSGEU and notifying employees before its implemented so employees can actually comply
• Clear requirements and consequences of any breach
• Consistent enforcement
• Reasonable and consistent with the collective agreements

Reasonability is one thing MacLean said he’s most concerned about. He said the NSGEU believes the province’s vaccine mandate — and other mandates where an unvaccinated employee is put on unpaid leave — is reasonable.

But there are some employers who have announced unreasonable mandate rules.

For instance, one of the NSGEU’s employers created one vaccine mandate that said everyone must be vaccinated and everyone who isn’t within two weeks would be fired.

MacLean said he “absolutely would” stand up for the NSGEU’s members — even for those who aren’t vaccinated. But he added that it doesn’t mean he’s taking both sides.

“On a blanket end, if you don’t want to get vaccinated simply because you don’t want to get vaccinated, then you’re going to be in serious trouble with your employer and we’re going to have to look at what the other issues are that we can get worked out for you,” he said. “But ultimately, they would be well within their right to put you on leave without pay.”