Photo credit: Twitter/City of Hamilton
On Wednesday, May 25, Hamilton City Council voted to alter the municipal staff vaccination policy. Unvaccinated city staff (of which there are approximately 505 people, or 6 per cent of the city’s workforce) were set to be terminated from their jobs on June 1, 2022.
However, in a last-minute turn of events, City Council voted to instead terminate unvaccinated employees on October 1, 2022. The motion to delay unvaccinated employee termination was a strategic one brought forward by Ward 7 Councillor Esther Pauls.
On April 27, City Council voted on whether to rescind the vaccination policy. Rescinding the mandate altogether is harder to pass as it requires two-thirds support to be scrapped. That vote failed 6-6 and the mandate stayed. The plan was to terminate unvaccinated city workers June 1, 2022.
Those in favour of keeping the mandate on the April 27 vote were: Fred Eisenberger, Maureen Wilson, Nrinder Nann, John-Paul Danko, Judi Partridge and Russ Powers.
Those in favour of scrapping the vaccination mandate altogether were: Esther Pauls, Maria Pearson, Tom Jackson, Sam Merulla, Jason Farr and Lloyd Ferguson.
Four city councillors (Brad Clark, Terry Whitehead, Brenda Johnson, and Arlene VanderBeek) were absent from that vote.
But then on May 25, with the number of days ticking down towards the June 1 termination date, Councillor Esther Pauls brought forward a motion to simply amend the vaccination mandate and make the termination date October 1, 2022. Pauls, who is against the mandate altogether, strategically brought forward the timeline amendment because amendments only require a majority vote to pass rather than the two-thirds approval.
Additionally, since Council already voted on whether to scrap the mandate the only way a new vote could be held is if one of the six councillors who voted to keep the mandate in place decides to change their mind and trigger a re-vote. Thus, Paul’s amendment motion was the only way to prevent unvaccinated employees from being terminated on June 1.
The motion to extend the termination date passed 11-3. In favour of extending the termination date to October 1 were: Nrinder Nann, Brenda Johnson, Judi Partridge, Sam Merulla, Brad Clark, Lloyd Ferguson, Terry Whitehead, Tom Jackson, Maria Pearson, and Arlene VanderBeek. Those in favour of continuing to terminate unvaccinated employees on June 1 were: Maureen Wilson, John-Paul Danko, and Russ Powers.
Whether or not the termination date will be further extended past October 1 remains to be seen, but for now, unvaccinated employees will keep their jobs.
The decision to simply amend the policy still means that unvaccinated employees need to regularly take rapid antigen tests. Some employees, approximately 64, are on unpaid leave because they are unvaccinated and also decline to be tested regularly.
Another 441 city workers are unvaccinated and have agreed to take rapid antigen tests.
Despite City Council’s vote back in April to keep the vaccine mandate and terminate unvaccinated employees, a staff report released in April from the municipal human resources department recommended that councillors should suspend the mandate and only consider implementing it if the COVID situation worsens.
The city also reportedly received legal counsel that the mandate would not hold up in court. Lora Fontana, head of human resources at the City of Hamilton, said that they do not think that courts and the arbitration process would support the city’s decision to keep the mandate since the city’s policy is no longer in line with the policy of the province. The province lifted mandatory masking and vaccine mandates a number of weeks ago.
“With those recent considerations from the province, it’s difficult to continue to implement our policy, particularly as it relates to the mandating of the vaccines,” Fontana said.
But several City Councillors have disregarded that advice. Ward 8 Councillor John-Paul Danko is a staunch supporter of terminating the unvaccinated, saying back in April that those who do not get vaccinated are refusing to do so because of their own “selfish entitlement.”
The transit union ATU Local 107 plans to push for arbitration under Ontario’s Labour Relations Act. Approximately 40 transit workers are impacted by the policy. City staff have also said that there are close to ten unions that have filed grievances regarding the mandate.
It should be noted that the vote on April 27 and the vote on May 25 were only in regard to what to do with current city employees who are unvaccinated. There is a separate policy in place mandating that all new hires by the City of Hamilton be vaccinated. That policy remains in place and there has not been any Council debate on removing that requirement.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Kevin Geenen reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He is a regular contributor with The Hamilton Independent and has also been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, Niagara Independent, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. He is known for Hamilton crime updates and social media news graphics. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal from Governor General David Johnston. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
