On Monday 7 February, the Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport advised Together that they were commencing a consultation with staff about a policy to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all staff. The Department has started a staff consultation process. While some DTIS employees are already covered by vaccine requirements, the proposed policy would require all employees to have a COVID-19 vaccination. Together will be providing feedback to the Department in the coming weeks. Together has already been conducting a ballot of union members to determine the union policy towards mandatory vaccinations in government departments since December last year. While this ballot remains open its closing date will now be brought forward so it can determine the union position on the current proposal from the employer, so it will now close at 5pm on Monday 14 February . Vote in the ballot here. Please take the opportunity to have your say in the ballot before it closes. If you have any feedback on the policy, please get in touch with your union organisers at your.union@together.org.au.
Resources members support vaccination mandate Together members employed in the Department of Resources have voted to support an employer mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations, with the majority of members who participated in the ballot supporting the mandate. Together delegates have met to consider the outcomes of the member ballot and other feedback from Together members. Together delegates and officials have provided some initial feedback to the Department and will seek to provide further feedback in the next week. Together has also raised the issue of the Resources 1 William Street policy in which the dates for compliance were changed without consultation with workers and the union. It’s Together's view that members will be bound by the policy which was consulted on and will keep members up to date. Union members are taking the lead in protecting the workplace. Ask your colleagues to join the union today. As we know, vaccinations are only part of the workplace health and safety response to COVID-19. We raised ongoing consultation on workplace health and safety including working from home and rapid antigen tests. If you have any questions or concerns about workplace conditions in Resources, please email your.union@together.org.au. We are always stronger together.
Together members employed in the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water have voted to support an employer mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations, with a clear majority of members who participated in the ballot supporting the mandate. I met with the employer on Monday 31 January to provide the union's response to the employer's draft policy. Together’s feedback included clear timelines and allowing for members to access the Novavax vaccine. As we know, vaccinations are only part of the workplace health and safety response to COVID-19. We raised ongoing consultation on workplace health and safety including working from home and rapid antigen tests. Union members are taking the lead in protecting the workplace. Ask your colleagues to join the union today.
Together members employed in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries have voted to support an employer mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations, with over 76% of members who participated in the ballot supporting the mandate. Together delegates met on Friday 28 January to consider the outcomes of the member ballot and also the other feedback from Together members. Together delegates and officials will meet with the employer on Tuesday 1 February to provide the union's response to the employer's draft policy. The position of Together was that the proposed policy was complex in terms of who was covered and that a simpler mandate policy with greater scope for exemptions would be easier for staff to understand and for the employer to implement, while still achieving the broader policy objective of a safer workplace through a vaccinated workforce. As we know, vaccinations are only part of the workplace health and safety response to COVID-19. We raised ongoing consultation on workplace health and safety including working from home and rapid antigen tests. Union members are taking the lead in protecting the workplace. Ask your colleagues to join the union today.
Community Visitors play a critical role in protecting the rights and interest of vulnerable adults and children in our community. Your union office has written to the Public Guardian Shayna Smith on behalf of Together members who are CVs in the Office of the Public Guardian seeking for administrative application of special pandemic leave for long term casuals. Many community visitor members are very experienced long term casuals however as non-public service employees they aren’t entitled to the special pandemic leave covered in the Employment Arrangements in the Event of the Health Pandemic Directive. With the high levels of community transmission in our community, it’s more likely that community visitors and their families may get COVID-19 and lose income as a result. The Employment Arrangements in the Event of a Health Pandemic Directive allows for long term casual employees who have been engaged on a regular and systematic basis for at least a year to access 20 days special pandemic leave if the casual employee is unable to attend work because they have COVID-19, are required to care for family or household members with actual or suspected illness or are required to care for their children as a result of school/childcare closures. It’s important that workers can take the time to recover from COVID-19 and care for their sick family members without the added stress of worrying about their income. That’s why Together members are fighting hard to ensure long term casuals can access paid pandemic leave. Stay tuned for more updates and make sure you check out the rest of the Safer Together campaign site to keep updated with how union members are helping building a safer public service.
With the increasing cases of COVID-19 in our Correctional Centres in Queensland, your delegates have been advocating strongly for staff safety and important control measures to keep you safe at work. Last week, Together wrote to Commissioner Paul Stewart in regards to serious concerns under the Work Health Safety act – you can view the correspondence here! As a result of our dispute, Delegates have sought immediate implementation of the following: N95/P2 masks to be issued and used by all officers in the COVID-positive units. Currently multiple centres are only wearing blue surgical masks when in COVID-positive units. A cleaning regime and evidence that a direction has been sent to all centres to clean and sanitize COVID positive areas (where an officer has tested positive, COVID units, walk ways, after escorting a COVID positive or close contact prisoner, biometric finger scanner, gate house etc.) Isolated COVID rosters, where staff have been fit tested, not fit checked Audit of vulnerable workers, to ensure they are not rostered to work in COVID positive units/areas Direction sent to all General Managers that they are to follow central Queensland Health advice and QCS policy. This should not be overruled by a local Nurse Unit Manager or Director of Nursing. Prisoners wearing masks within the unit, not just when leaving the unit. Statewide policies which are clear and direct, which every centre follows, for example the current Operation Plan for COVID-19. We seek immediate update and dissemination in relation to health advice. Any operational changes to this plan must be in consultation with our members. Regular consultation meetings with Delegates at each centre. Delegates across the state have held meetings this week to move motions to support the above control measures and ensure that members in Correctional facilities are safe at work. Well done to all members and Delegates for their ongoing work with these matters! Your safety at work is vital and it is important that all members know their rights when working with COVID-19 positive prisoners. Members are also reporting incorrect payment of wages as a result of being COVID positive or being a close contact. Here are some Queensland Corrective Services FAQs. It is important that you read and see which scenario applies to you! If you are being denied access to appropriate leave and entitlements, contact your local delegates or call your union office on 1800 177 244.
Far too many Australians are spending hours in massive testing queues or scrambling around multiple pharmacies looking for rapid testing kits. Making rapid antigen tests free and accessible would take some pressure off our family budgets and will improve our public health response to the pandemic. Unions and business urged Scott Morrison to make rapid antigen tests free back in October. He could have chosen to act but he did nothing. The UK and US Governments have already acted to make rapid covid tests free and accessible to their citizens, once again Scott Morrison is leaving Australia behind. Right now, a single test can cost up to $20, if you’re lucky enough to find a chemist that still has them. That’s $100 for a family of five. That might be small change to the Prime Minister, but it’s out of reach for many families. When asked whether he would make rapid antigen tests free for Australians who need them, Mr Morrison suggested it wasn’t the Government’s job to fix the problem anyway. When a journalist specifically put to Mr Morrison that “not everyone can afford Rapid Antigen Tests”, the PM glibly replied, “some people can, some people can’t”. It's time for the Federal Government to step up and make rapid antigen tests free and accessible. Together is encouraging members to get involved in the national campaign. Sign the petition to ask Scott Morrison to act to protect Australians by making RATs free and accessible.
Together has written to the Public Service Commission seeking to have the Health Pandemic directive updated to reflect the current health response to COVID-19 and the impacts on public servants. In relation to the Review of Leave Entitlements under Employment Arrangements in the Event of a Health Pandemic (Directive 01/20) Together wrote that: “The recent, rapid surge of COVID cases due to the conjunction of the move away from an elimination strategy, the opening up of the borders to other states and the spread of the Omicron variant has highlighted some potential gaps in the Employment Arrangements in the Event of a Health Pandemic (Directive 01/20) (Pandemic Directive). In order to address these gaps, we seek consideration of the following: Quantum of Leave The Directive currently provides an entitlement to a maximum 20 days paid “Special Pandemic Leave” for use when the employee is unable to attend work and unable to perform work under flexible working arrangements because they: • have an actual viral infection and have exhausted their sick leave accruals; and/or • are required to care for immediate family or household member/s who have an actual or suspected viral infection and have exhausted their sick leave accruals; and/or • are required to care for children as a result of school or childcare centres closures and have exhausted their sick leave accruals. The Omicron variant has proved capable of reinfecting individuals who have already had COVID. This means that, in some cases, Public Servants could require additional leave even after utilising the current entitlement. We seek an amendment to the Directive to allow Chief Executive to grant an additional 20 days of “Special Pandemic Leave” where a Public Servant has exhausted the initial entitlement for any of the following reasons: • the Public Servant has been reinfected with COVID • there have been multiple infections of immediate family or household member • repeated school or childcare closures have required the Public Servant to take leave to care for children Leave to receive vaccinations and/or adverse side effects Correspondence from Minister Grace to the General Secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions dated 27 August 2021 contained the following commitments: • “Where a public sector employee is unable to secure their vaccination appointment outside of their working hours...they will be suitably accommodated with paid time for the purpose of getting their vaccination. This paid time includes reasonable travel time.” • “In the event that a public sector employee has an adverse reaction to the vaccine such that they are unable to attend work, the employee may access their sick leave entitlement. Where an employee does not have adequate sick leave, or in the case of a casual employee, that employee is able to request paid leave under the Special Leave Directive.” Neither of these commitments are explicitly set out in the Pandemic Directive. Further, given the stated intention of most, if not all, Government Departments to introduce general vaccination mandates, the entitlements should be amended to reflect those Directions and avoid unnecessary WorkCover claims. To that end we seek that the Directive be amended to incorporate the above commitments and further provide that where a public service employee is subject to a vaccination mandate: • They will be provided with paid time for the purpose of getting their vaccination. This paid time includes reasonable travel time. • If a public sector employee has an adverse reaction to the vaccine such that they are unable to attend work that employee is able to request paid leave under the Special Leave Directive. Access to Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) The recent changes to testing requirements for close contacts or when an individual is diagnosed with COVID are not captured by the Directive. Nor is the impact of the current supply shortages of RATs. We seek that Agencies, subject to availability, provide RATs in the following circumstances: • Where, in accordance with the Directions of the Chief Health Officer, the public service employee is a close contact of a diagnosed person (within the home or accommodation) and requires a negative test prior to returning to work. • Where a public service employee has had close or physical contact with a diagnosed member of the public in the execution of their duty (deliberate infection, physical altercation). • Where the member has worked with a diagnosed member in the workplace in close confines and where movement is restricted for a period of four hours or more (e.g. in a vehicle, Further, where a public servant requires a negative test prior to returning to work and is unable to access a RAT they will be entitled to Special Pandemic Leave.” Show your support for the claim for an improved and updated directive here.
As COVID-19 cases rise, public sector agencies are considering whether to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory as part of the workplace health and safety response. Vaccinations mandates are only one part of the response. Workers in the Office of Industrial Relations need to be heard on a range of choices and options for keeping our workplaces, families and communities safe in 2022. We know that when workers have a say, we create better outcomes for our workplaces. I provided a briefing regarding the suite of workplace health and safety strategies that Together members are seeking to make sure public sector workplaces are as safe as possible. You can watch the briefing back here. Members who attended the briefing supported running specific ballots for members to decide the union position for each agency. Every member in the Office of Industrial Relations will get the opportunity to have your voice heard and vote in the mandatory vaccination ballot. You can vote in the ballot here. The ballot will be open until 12pm 28 January to ensure that every member gets their vote. It’s important you have a say in the ballot. Your collective voice will be important when union members engage with the Office of Industrial Relations over the responses to the upcoming COVID-19 spike.
Together members employed in the Department of Environment and Science have voted to support an employer mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations, with over 76% of members who participated in the ballot supporting the mandate. Together delegates meet on Friday 14 January to consider the outcomes of the member ballot and also the other feedback from Together members. Together delegates and officials also met with the employer on Monday 17 January to provide the union’s response to the employer's draft policy. The position of Together was that the proposed policy was complex in structure and, outside of the areas covered by Chief Health Officer Health directives, that a simpler mandate policy with greater scope for exemptions would be easier for staff to understand and for the employer to implement, while still achieving the broader policy objective of a safer workplace through a vaccinated workforce. Together delegates also recommended that the timing of the implementation of the policy be reviewed to ensure the minimum levels of disruption and confusion in workplaces with several different public service departments and agencies. The employer undertook to consider the union’s position as part of the broader consultative process around the draft policy. The meeting also covered a range of other issues relating to the current challenges faced by members as a consequence of the lack of Rapid Antigen Tests in Queensland and the need to prioritise the public health response in approaching these issues.