City vax policy unchanged; fate of fired 12 still in limbo

The City of North Bay confirms its COVID-19 vaccination policy for employees remains unchanged and recent movement by the City of Toronto with respect to its own policy has no immediate bearing in this municipality. 

The policy will continue to apply to all City of North Bay employees, members of council and members of council-appointed committees, and volunteers unless the policy is amended or rescinded. Any change would require a resolution from North Bay City Council.

See original story: City employees will need to show proof of full vaccination status

Upon the implementation of the local policy, introduced in October 2021 amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, municipal employees were warned: "Non-compliance with this policy may result in discipline up to and including termination."

By December 2021, 11 City of North Bay employees had been terminated for violating the policy and a 12th has since been fired.

Tuesday, the City of Toronto announced its decision to update its own COVID-19 vaccination policy that is in place for some 35,000 employees, plus volunteers and contractors. Effective Dec. 1, mandatory vaccination is no longer required. The City of Toronto "continues to strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19, including a fall booster dose to prevent severe illness."

Approximately 350 unionized City of Toronto employees who are either unvaccinated or did not disclose their vaccination status will be offered reinstatement into unpaid leave and then will also be eligible on Dec. 1 to return to the workplace.

The union representing the 12 fired City of North Bay employees filed grievances for all of its terminated members late in 2021 and the negotiations and arbitration process continues. CUPE Local 122 president Brent Lavigne said then the union had also filed a policy grievance demonstrating how unreasonable and uneven the implementation of the policy was.

See also: Union fighting for jobs of fired City employees

Lavigne shares his terminated members have received offers from the employer that were ultimately refused but this recent development shows some promise.

"The Toronto situation has not changed anything for us as of yet, but as all of these changes to policies and arbitration awards that I’ve heard of this is the first that is allowing employees to return to work. Most awards are saying the employees can’t be terminated but won’t order the employer to put them back to work."

See: Mayor McDonald stands by municipal vaccination policy

However, Lavigne says on Wednesday there have been no new talks scheduled to resolve these issues as of yet, but the union is seeking more dates with the arbitrator.

Unable to divulge many details of the negotiations, Lavigne confirms one offer received called for the terminated members to get vaccinated in return for their jobs, which they found unappealing and declined.

Meanwhile, the City of Toronto "committed from the outset that it would continually review this policy, which would be based on science and evidence," it stated via news release. "Now, with more than 90 per cent of the public and 99 per cent of City staff with at least two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, the science and public health guidance and medical expert advice no longer supports the need for a policy that requires mandatory vaccination."