Members who work in 1 William Street will be balloted by the union separately to ensure that they determine union’s response on this proposal. This is a second and separate ballot to the one on the agency consideration of possible COVID vaccination mandates. Members employed in 1 William Street are asked to vote in both ballots.
As a result of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 transmission in Queensland, the Public Service Commission has commenced consultation on a vaccination direction for Government employees who work in 1 William Street.
Over the past few months Together has been engaging with departments seeking meaningful consultation, within reasonable timeframes. Earlier this month I wrote to Directors-General seeking their agreement to a structured approach to consultation.
The proposed consultation timeframes for 1 William Street are clearly shorter than Together delegates proposed for the broader public service and many members are on leave and unlikely to see the employers emails prior to their return to work.
I am also aware of the stress and anxiety caused by the rapidly increasing case numbers in Queensland over the last couple of days and we all expect them to dramatically increase over the Christmas close down. I do not want to put members safety at risk by seeking to slow down the consultation process if the majority of members are supportive of a mandate.
On this basis Together will be conducting a ballot of members over the shortened timeframes but we will be actively seeking to get members views by follow up emails, texts and other means. If we can get a higher return rate we will provide the employers with our position on the meeting proposed by them on Friday 7 January.
However, it’s up to union members to determine the position the Together takes back to the Public Service Commission and the Department of Premier and Cabinet next year.
Irrespective of members decision in relation to 1 William Street we will continue our Safer Together campaign to give Together members a strong voice on the workplace health and safety issues resulting from the pandemic in 2022.
