Despite the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, one of Canada’s largest meatpackers may fire unvaccinated employees, a labour arbitrator has ruled. The decision happened at a Maple Leaf Foods Inc. plant, where employees protested mandatory shots..“It is very difficult to predict when it is safe and when it is not safe to reduce COVID-19 precautionary measures,” wrote Peter Chauvin, an Ontario arbitrator. “It is also very difficult to predict which if any precautionary measures can be safely reduced or eliminated.”.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Maple Leaf ordered all 150 employees at its Brantford, Ont. poultry plant to show proof of vaccination by March 31, or else they would be fired or suspended without pay. Arbitrator Chauvin upheld the order and gave employees six weeks to comply..“It may be helpful to the employees to inform them that if they remain unvaccinated (by) May 31 they may very well be subject to discipline or discharge,” Chauvin.wrote. The order was enforceable, though Maple Leaf eased other requirements, such as mandatory masking..“The employee is not being forced to take an injection, but rather is being required to make a decision: a) to be vaccinated or b) to not be vaccinated and accept the consequences,” wrote the arbitrator. Those who decline vaccination or protest on privacy grounds “cannot continue to work,” he said..United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175 challenged the ruling on behalf of 20 members at the plant. Union lawyers argued the worst of the pandemic appeared to be over and that COVID-19 “now had to be considered to be a normal part of life and no longer an exceptional threat to health.”.Maple Leaf permitted employees to seek exemptions from mandatory vaccination on religious or medical grounds. The union argued rapid testing and screening were a sufficient precaution for others who declined COVID shots..The United Food and Commercial Workers told the arbitrator employees had a right to “protect their privacy regarding their vaccination status, to preserve their bodily autonomy to not take a vaccination they do not want, and to not be exposed to the financial harm of being placed on an unpaid leave of absence or being discharged,”.Maple Leaf has 14,000 employees at plants across Canada. A total of 2,993 tested positive, and five died from COVID-19..Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
