Health & Safety

ONA’s position on the COVID-19 vaccine

ONA recommends that you, as a health-care worker receive the vaccine, if you are able to do so. However, this is a decision that needs to be made by you based on voluntary and informed consent.

While COVID-19 vaccinations are beneficial, they are not a complete and holistic solution. Vaccines are part of a comprehensive health and safety and infection control program, and we expect all employers to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and take every precaution reasonably necessary to protect the health and safety of workers. This includes easy access to, and the use of, N95 respirators or equivalent or better and other personal protective equipment. We also encourage employers to remove the barriers that are likely causing vaccine hesitancy. Our members have told us that some employers are making little effort to facilitate staff vaccination uptake, which can impact overall vaccination rates.

ONA will file grievances only for nurses or health-care professionals who are disadvantaged through the imposition of a leave of absence or termination. It is important to note if you are terminated, you will need to mitigate your losses. Mitigation will be challenging given widespread pre-hiring COVID-19 vaccination requirements now in place and employees who are refusing the vaccine should be advised to consider the challenges of mitigating losses in the current context

ONA will not file grievances against vaccination policies that adopt the following measures, subject to the exceptions noted below.

Vaccine Status or Proof

Requirement to disclose vaccine status or proof that there is a medical reason for not being vaccinated or reasonable information related to other human rights grounds such as religious exemption. There should be appropriate safeguards in place to protect the privacy of employee personal health information. In particular, vaccination status should be shared with Occupational Health and only disclosed with managers for specific purposes related to COVID-19 and outbreak management.

Education

Requirement for vaccine education for unvaccinated employees and discipline for refusing to attend vaccine education will be upheld as reasonable if we proceed to arbitration.

Testing

COVID-19 testing for vaccinated and unvaccinated staff. ONA will not file grievances on regular testing for unvaccinated and/or vaccinated employees. Given the reduced efficacy of the vaccine against the Delta variant, extending testing to fully vaccinated workers would also be considered reasonable and will not be grieved.

Temporary exclusion from workplace/temporary leave of absence during outbreak

Unvaccinated employees may be temporarily excluded from workplace/reassigned/placed on leave of absence during a COVID-19 outbreak similar to the influenza protocol in the Hospital Central Agreement.

Mandating Vaccination Pre-Hire

Requiring all new hires or nursing students to be vaccinated. Employer policies setting out requirements prior to the employment relationship are not within the jurisdiction of the collective agreement. ONA cannot file grievances for new hires or students. This would be relevant for unvaccinated nurses and their ability to seek alternate employment or seek recourse for mandatory vaccination policies pre-hire.

Personal Protective Equipment

ONA objects to differential treatment of vaccinated and unvaccinated nurses when it comes to personal protective equipment. Employers should take reasonable precautions to ensure universal health and safety precautions in the workplace, including that all nurses regardless of vaccination status should be wearing an N95 respirator where there is a risk of both airborne and contact transmission of COVID-19. Directive 5 is also unchanged and still remains in effect. There is no shortage of PPE!