Metrolinx to implement mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for employees
Posted August 20, 2021 10:11 am.
Last Updated August 20, 2021 5:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Metrolinx is following in the footsteps of the TTC and many other public-facing organizations in implementing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy.
The transit agency, at the direction of Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney, will require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Final details of the policy, including consequences for unvaccinated workers and accommodations for those with medical exemptions, were still in the works at the time of the announcement.
But a spokeswoman for the provincial agency indicated the policy would go further than provincial guidelines outlined this week for workers in hospitals, schools and other high-risk jobs, which will allow workers who don’t take the shots to regularly undergo testing as an alternative.
“We don’t expect it to include rapid testing,” Anne Marie Aikins, head of public relations for the organization, said on Friday. “We’re expecting it to be a mandatory vaccination policy.”
She said Metrolinx already has rapid testing at some high-risk locations and employees have expressed interest in stronger protective measures.
Time of implementation is also being finalized, but Aikins said Metrolinx hopes to have the policy in effect soon given the risk of the highly contagious Delta variant that’s become dominant in the province.
“We will really want to get it right,” she said. “This is an exceptionally important time.”
A recent internal survey showed 81 per cent of Metrolinx employees are already fully vaccinated and another two per cent have received at least one dose.
They will be providing time off and easy access to vaccine clinics to ensure there are no barriers for staff to get vaccinated.
The TTC announced Thursday that their employees would have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 13.
Employees would be exempt from the vaccine policy if they could provide proof of a medical reason for not being immunized.
The president of the union representing TTC workers, however, said he was “concerned” by the announcement, pointing at the lack of clarity about “alternatives to vaccination” for members or possible consequences for people who refuse the vaccine.
Carlos Santos said ATU Local 113 supports members’ rights to make their own decisions about their personal health.
The Ministry of Transportation said in a statement that other transit and transportation agencies, including the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission and the Owen Sound Transportation Company, have also been directed to develop vaccination policies.
The province told The Canadian Press this week that there are two accepted medical exemptions to COVID-19 vaccination under the health worker immunization policy. Those exemptions are an allergy to a component of the vaccine, confirmed by an allergist or immunologist, or if the person developed myocarditis or pericarditis after a first dose of an mRNA vaccine.
