Thursday, 28 March, 2024
HomeNews UpdateNehawu opposes Parliament over COVID mandatory jabs

Nehawu opposes Parliament over COVID mandatory jabs

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has rejected an instruction from Parliament to vaccinate staff for COVID-19 or pay for their own PCR tests when they head to the legislature, with the union’s branch chairperson calling it a “unilateral and draconian top down decision”.

On 10 June, then acting secretary to Parliament, Baby Tyawa, sent a letter to employees saying they were all “encouraged to vaccinate”. Those were were not jabbed “should have a valid COVID-19 negative test when going to the precinct, which will be for their own cost”, reports TimesLIVE.

The letter said Parliament would allow time off and pay transport costs to the vaccination site for those electing to vaccinate. “Parliament will provide support … in the form of information, consultation and counselling where needed.”

Nehawu, which represents an overwhelming majority of Parliament’s workforce, has rejected the call. Nehawu branch chairperson Sthembiso Tembe responded five days later, objecting to the decision and calling it “unilateral and draconian”.

He said it violated a recognition agreement between Nehawu and Parliament management, and cited a clause which, he said, made it mandatory for Parliament management to consult the union regarding changes to conditions of service before the implementation of such changes.

He also quoted Parliament’s own legal services, which he said advised Tyawa to “encourage workers to vaccinate” as opposed to mandatory vaccination.

Tyawa said she had asked Parliament’s legal services for advice and they did not indicate it was illegal to ask employees to vaccinate, especially considering that Parliament employees interact with a high number of South Africans.

She invited Tembe to recommend solutions that would ensure their colleagues would avoid falling ill with the virus.

Tembe said: “We stand available to be consulted by the (newly appointed) secretary and management of parliament in this regard, but you will find it hard to convince us to agree to such a decision.”

 

TimesLIVE article – Parliament at odds with Nehawu over ‘mandatory’ Covid-19 vaccinations (Open access)

 

See more from MedicalBrief archives:

 

Nehawu rejects proposal of mandatory public sector vaccinations

 

NEHAWU: Alert Level 2 decision shows government learnt nothing from earlier waves

 

Nehawu threatens national strike over lack of PPE

 

 

MedicalBrief — our free weekly e-newsletter

We'd appreciate as much information as possible, however only an email address is required.