January 3, today, is the last day for security officers at the National Maintenance Training & Security (MTS) Company Limited to submit their vaccination cards as proof to the company. If no proof is shown they will be sent home.

  These instructions came after the Prime Minister’s announcement two weeks ago that all public workers will be on leave without pay from January 15 if they are unvaccinated.

   On December 24, a letter was sent to all managers and supervisors from human resources, in the letter stated that all employees must be vaccinated per the government’s announcement, and if not vaccinated, the workers will be furloughed in mid-January.

  In response to the letter the Transport and Industrial Workers Union stated in a letter of their own that ‘President of the Industrial Court, Deborah Thomas Felix has said that an employer cannot alter its terms and conditions to make the Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for employees, however, employers can encourage workers to be vaccinated.’

  They continued on saying, “At no point should a worker’s rights be violated and this Union will not stand idly by and watch workers be forced to vaccinate in order to make a living. This violation of a worker’s rights and any discontinuing of a worker’s wage because he/she is unvaccinated will be considered Constructive Dismissal.”

  Last week Friday, December 31 a group of MTS workers led by Transport and Industrial Workers Union (TIWU) shop steward Nicola Bishop called on the company to reconsider their position that workers must present proof of vaccination.

   A meeting was held after the worker’s demonstration where the discussions were described as ‘frank’.