The University of Western Ontario Staff Association (UWOSA) has filed a policy grievance to challenge Western University’s COVID-19 vaccination policy, saying that the mandatory three-dose requirement is both a violation of the collective agreement and the province’s human rights law.
“UWOSA acknowledges that the current policy is unreasonable for our members and is a breach of our Collective Agreement as well as The Ontario Human Rights Code,“ the staff union said in a Sept. 9 statement.
The London, Ont., university announced in its updated vaccination policy on Aug. 22, that all individuals on campus, including students, employees, and certain visitors of the university, must receive a primary series of vaccines and an additional booster by Oct. 1, 2022, and provide proof of vaccination. A primary series refers to one or two doses of a Health Canada-approved vaccine, or a combination of such injections.
This policy makes Western the only university in Canada to mandate three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine for all staff and students, though a handful of institutions have also required students living on campus to be double- or triple-vaccinated. The university said on its website that starting Sept. 1, it is also imposing further mandatory masking in indoor instruction spaces for degree credit courses and for large indoor events.
UWOSA, which represents about 900 administrative and technical staff at Western, said while it has supported vaccination during the pandemic, it finds Western’s latest vaccination policy “unreasonable,” particularly after provincial governments have already ended all proof of vaccination programs and other pandemic-related public health measures.
“As public health restrictions have lifted across the country, including Ontario, it is important to take a closer review of Western’s vaccination policy and how it is applied specifically to UWOSA members,” the union said.Grievances
UWOSA said other unions that have challenged their employers’ vaccine policies have put their disputes before arbitration, and the arbitrators have reached an agreement to apply the KVP test in determining whether such policies are reasonable.
The KVP test, a legal tool established in a 1965 labour arbitration case, delineates the scope of an employer’s right to institute workplace rules or policies with disciplinary consequences. The test requires that a workplace rule or policy must be reasonable and consistent with the collective agreement—a written contract between an employer and a union that outlines the employment conditions.
The KVP test also requires that the rule or policy must be clear and unequivocal, and must be brought to the attention of the employees affected before the company can act on it, UWOSA said.
“UWOSA has repeatedly raised concerns to Western that the [vaccination] policy does not strike a reasonable balance between an employee’s interest in privacy, bodily integrity and Western’s interest in maintaining the health and safety of its workplace,” the Sept. 9 statement said.
The union noted that Western’s policy does not meet the KVP test in several aspects, including that many visitors to the university have been exempted from having to comply with its vaccine policy.
Western has provided a list of the categories of visitors who are exempted from its COVID-19 vaccine policy, including prospective students, donors, and prospective donors.
UWOSA said it has filed a policy grievance under its collective agreement, and while it’s unsure of the outcome of the challenge, it is “optimistic [that] a resolution will be reasonable and equitable.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the Western University for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.
Backlash
Following Western’s announcement of its latest vaccine policy on Aug. 22, hundreds of students held a protest against the mandate on Aug. 27, chanting and carrying banners with slogans such as “Enough is Enough” and “Freedom is Essential.”
Donalds, who took part in the Aug. 27 protest on campus, told reporters that he was originally prepared to join his fellow first-year nursing students at the start of the fall semester, but that he would sit out this academic year if the vaccine policy stands.
He also criticized what he called a lack of transparency around the university’s decision while questioning the timing of the announcement, which came after some students had already paid their first tuition installment.
Following the students’ protest, the university pushed back the deadline for the mandatory vaccination mandate to Jan. 9, 2023, three months later than originally scheduled.
