An unvaccinated employee who was locked out of the workplace from September 1 has told PSA media that she did not get her salary at the end of the month. She said that this was despite following the order from LJ Williams management that unvaccinated workers should show up at the compound daily and sign a book showing that they were present. The worker said she had been doing that for the entire month of September and then returned home for the day. 

Last week LJ Williams appeared in a daily newspaper with an employee accusing the company of using “strongarm tactics to get their workers vaccinated.” Another worker who spoke to PSA media said that the company gave them an ultimatum to either present a PCR test or a vaccination card proving that they had taken at least one dose of any of the vaccines available. She said she among other employees had done neither but continued to show up for work but was denied entry. 

The employee, who works in the administrative department has however stated that she will no longer be going to the compound to sign because she said that will require money to travel daily and she is not about to use what funds she has available. However, she noted that she had sent an email to her immediate manager because she does not want to be accused of job abandonment. In the email, she outlined what they had done regarding not paying their unvaccinated employees. 

Before the lockout, workers said the company was previously engaging in segregation at the workplace with vaccinated and unvaccinated employees having to use separate water coolers, lunchrooms, and bathroom facilities. 

However, the worker said that at present she is weighing her options and may simply leave the company altogether. She said: “I have not talked about staying there in the end. Like after the fact. But we will see how it goes. I do not like how they are treating their employees. Even people working there 30 years, that is what they are doing them. Other people have been working there so long and have been so loyal to you and that is what you are doing to them.”

Despite repeated statements by the Industrial Court’s President, Deborah Thomas-Felix condemning the mandatory vaccination policy being implemented by some companies, mainly companies that do not have trade union representation have continued to push mandatory vaccinations policy. 

The PSA President, Watson Duke on his Facebook Live has encouraged workers facing that level of discrimination to join the PSA and let a team of knowledgeable professionals handle the matter for them.