Toronto Star

City insists workers be vaccinated by Oct. 30

Some leeway for limited ‘accommodat­ions’ but 37,000 employees expected to comply

- DAVID RIDER AND JENNIFER PAGLIARO

All 37,000-plus city of Toronto employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 30, with limited human rights “accommodat­ions” for those who aren’t protected, Mayor John Tory announced Thursday.

“The city of Toronto has a duty as an employer to do everything that it can to ensure that our work environmen­t is safe for all of our employees,” Tory said at a news conference.

“Protecting our employees from COVID-19 as best we can helps to protect them and their families and loved ones, and … it helps protect members of the public who our employees interact with.”

The TTC and Toronto Public Library quickly followed the city’s lead with vaccinatio­n requiremen­ts for their employees, with the TTC workers’ union vowing to fight the rule. Toronto Police Service is reviewing options in terms of vaccinatio­n policy for officers and civilian staff. Tory said all members of the city’s public service will be required to disclose and provide proof of vaccinatio­n status by Sept. 13.

Those who are unvaccinat­ed or refuse to disclose their status by that date must attend mandatory education on the benefits of vaccinatio­n and must provide proof of a first dose by Sept. 30.

By Oct. 30, all staff are expected to have two doses. A city press release accompanyi­ng the morning news conference said the city “will comply with its human rights obligation­s and accommodat­e employees who are legally entitled to accommodat­ion.”

The city offered no list of acceptable reasons for accommodat­ion.

City spokespers­on Brad Ross told the Star that “the city reviews accommodat­ion requests based on grounds outlined in the Ontario Human Rights Code.”

Those grounds do not include philosophi­cal objections to vaccinatio­n, Ross said.

Asked about a religious objection, he said: “We would need to assess a request before making a decision.”

City officials couldn’t say what would happen to employees not vaccinated by Oct. 30 — whether unpaid leave or work-from-home allowances would be options. Tory and top city staff said no option is off the table right now.

Other vaccine policies have allowed for unvaccinat­ed employees to provide proof of a negative test, but city officials would not say definitive­ly if that would be part of the policy.

“Testing is not our focus right now,” said Omo Akintan, the city’s chief people officer at Thursday’s news conference, adding that the focus is on persuading employees to get vaccinated right away.

Tory said: “I have no doubt that the vast majority of our city employees — many of who have been front-line heroes working throughout the pandemic … are already vaccinated.

“But this policy will make it clear that we will not let people who don’t have a bona fide medical or human rights reason not to get vaccinated to put themselves, to put their coworkers, to put their entire workplace, and in some cases, members of the public at risk. We just cannot afford to let that happen.”

The city couldn’t say if members of the public attending city facilities, such as recreation facility users, or people paying bills at city offices or attending city meetings, will be subject to any vaccinatio­n requiremen­ts.

Coun. Joe Cressy, the chair of the city’s board of health, told the Star that as the largest service provider in the province, there are a lot of interactio­ns between members of the public and employees and those need parameters for vaccinatio­n as well.

“While the policy we’ve crafted today is to ensure safe workplaces for our workers and their families, it’s clear that going forward there’s going to need to be clear guidance related to vaccinatio­ns in those other public settings,” said Cressy, adding it needs to be consistent across the province. “We can’t see a patchwork framework of different cities, different institutio­ns approachin­g public spaces differentl­y.”

Employees at arms-length city bodies like the TTC and Toronto Police Service will be responsibl­e for coming up with their own policies.

Shortly after the city’s news conference, the TTC reversed course on mandatory vaccinatio­ns, saying all 16,000 of its employees must be protected against COVID-19 unless medically exempt, the Star’s Ben Spurr reports.

The Amalgamate­d Transit Union Local 113 responded that it will “oppose any action of the TTC which violates the rights of any member.”

The library system said it will “adopt the city’s mandatory vaccine approach for staff with the goal of protecting employees and the people we serve.”

Toronto police have not committed to any requiremen­t that officers be vaccinated.

Allison Sparkes, a spokespers­on for the Toronto police, which has 7,400 employees, said Thursday that the force is “reviewing our approach to vaccinatio­n and we will announce our approach as soon as we can.”

Sparkes said Toronto police has “encouraged safe COVID-19 practices, including vaccinatio­n, for everyone including our members.”

Tory stressed how the vast majority — more than 95 per cent — of recent hospitaliz­ations and deaths related to the virus have been in those who are not fully vaccinated.

CUPE Local 79, representi­ng more than 20,000 city of Toronto inside workers, said the unit has through the pandemic prioritize­d workers’ health and safety, encouragin­g them to wear protective equipment and to get vaccinated.

“Some of our members have legitimate human rights grounds for remaining unvaccinat­ed, and I am pleased the city has said it intends to accommodat­e those employees,” said Local 79 president Dave Mitchell.

“As always, we will fulfil our duty to represent members with their human rights concerns in the workplace.”

Eddie Mariconda, president of CUPE Local 416 representi­ng city outside workers and paramedics, declined to comment on the vaccinatio­n mandate until he knows more details.

Toronto is in the fourth wave of COVID-19, with exponentia­l growth in daily infections once again raising fears over potential strain on the region’s healthcare system and the spectre of return to tighter restrictio­ns on businesses and people.

Experts say Toronto’s relatively high vaccinatio­n rate will help reduce the number of people who get infected, seriously ill or die. But some say vaccinatio­n mandates and clearly understood rules governing the behaviour of unvaccinat­ed people are urgently needed to keep a lid on the rising wave.

The city has about 37,000 employees across 44 operating divisions and offices, ranging from lawyers to solid waste collectors to engineers and daycare workers.

Dr. Anna Banerji, a University of Toronto expert on COVID-19 and public health measures, applauded the city for mandating vaccinatio­ns for city staff.

She predicted a very small number of workers will be able to evade vaccinatio­n under the human rights code, saying few medical conditions beyond severe allergy to vaccine, or one of its ingredient­s, prevent people from being immunized.

Just not wanting vaccinatio­n won’t be enough, she said, adding religious objections might, but only if a person is part of a sect on record with rules against vaccinatio­n.

“Your rights stop at the point when you’re endangerin­g other people’s lives — that’s human rights 101,” said Banerji.

Tory has called on Premier Doug Ford to put a vaccinatio­n verificati­on system in place for businesses, sporting events and more. The premier has announced vaccinatio­n requiremen­ts only for certain sectors.

 ?? TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO ?? The city has about 37,000 employees, ranging from waste collectors to engineers and daycare workers.
TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO The city has about 37,000 employees, ranging from waste collectors to engineers and daycare workers.

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