City of Hamilton drops proof of vaccination requirement for current staff, will not fire those unvaccinated

City employees are no longer required to provide proof of vaccinationor take rapid testing, the city saidin a release after council voted in favour of the change.

City council passed the decisionFriday by a vote of 9-4.

The vote"suspends the provision within the policy that would see unvaccinated employees terminated as of September 20, 2022," the city said.

According to the release, the change is effective immediately andappliesto all city employees, including full-time, part-time, volunteers, etc. However, it will not apply for futurecity employees or new hires, who will need to provide proof.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger was among the four who voted to keep the vaccination policy as it was.

"I will resist the temptation to speak to this," Eisenberger said during Friday's meeting."My vote will indicate my position on it.It's been well-known."

The decision comes days afterAmalgamated Transit Union Local 107,the union representing transit workers, criticized city councilfor maintaining itsmandatory vaccine policy.

The policy had beenpostponed by the cityonce already just days before the original May 31 deadline to get two shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, pushing the deadline into the fall.

A recent report by city staff presented at a general issues committee meeting on Aug. 4saidas of July 20, there were234 unvaccinated employees doing ongoing rapid tests and 30 who wereon unpaid leave because they wereunvaccinated.

The report also saidif the policy had beenimplemented, 134 workers would have beenfired in the falland 130 would have beenon indefinite unpaid leaves of absence. Termination arbitrationscould have cost the city between $2,793,810.72 and $7,386,737.99, the report said.

Hamilton's decision follows Burlington's repeal of its policy in March. Toronto already implemented its policy which had a Jan. 2 deadline, after which 461 employees were terminated.

How they voted

In favour of reconsidering the policy that requiredcity employees to get two shots:

Maureen Wilson (Ward 1), Jason Farr (Ward 2), Nrinder Nann (Ward 3), Tom Jackson (Ward 6), Esther Pauls (Ward 7), Brad Clark (Ward 9), Maria Pearson (Ward 10), Lloyd Ferguson (Ward 12), Arlene VanderBeek (Ward 13).

Who was opposed:

Mayor Fred Eisenberger,Russ Powers (Ward 5),John-Paul Danko (Ward 8) andJudi Partridge (Ward 15).

Absent:

Sam Merulla (Ward 4),Brenda Johnson (Ward 11) andTerry Whitehead (Ward 14).