On Tuesday 4 January the Department of Environment and Science advised Together that they were commencing a consultation with staff about a policy to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for staff of the department. The Department commenced a staff consultation process on the policy on the same day.
The proposed policy would require all but a handful of departmental employees to have a COVID-19 vaccination and is more extensive that the policy last year.
The previous policy had been limited to employees directly caught by the Chief Health Officer mandate, which had impacted a relatively small number of departmental employees.
Together delegates, including Together Executive members Angie Seville-Balsamo, Andrew Grodecki and Carleigh Stapleton, as well Branch Secretary Alex Scott met with the Director-General on Wednesday 5 January to discuss the nature of the proposed policy and the implications for staff.
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 10:00am on Monday 17 January.