IEU position on COVID-19 vaccinations
UPDATE, 22 SEPTEMBER 2021:
THE IEU’S primary concern is the health, safety and wellbeing of our members and we have consistently advised them to follow the official health advice.
The fastest, safest way out of the pandemic remains for us to get vaccinated.
Overwhelmingly, our members support vaccination as the most important tool to get schools back to normal.
Vaccinations alone, crucial as they are, are not enough. We welcome the announcement of additional funding for safety measures being introduced to address ventilation. Whatever is necessary to make schools safer must be done.
We all know how tough it is when cases are announced in a school; the illness, lockdowns and disruption that are caused. For two years, our lives have been turned upside down by this virus. We must do everything we can to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.
That means vaccinations.
The IEU backs the vaccination drive because COVID-19 vaccine helps to protect you, your colleagues and families, and our whole community from the spread of COVID-19. Getting vaccinated lowers the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks and reduces the risk of exposure to COVID-19 in schools.
Ultimately, vaccination remains a decision for each individual and we respect that. At this stage there is no requirement across schools for staff to be vaccinated, but it may well come. We have not yet seen any school in our sector move to terminate staff for refusing vaccination, but that may also happen.
As a result, we are advising members of the following legal realities:
The Union has not advocated for mandatory vaccination (MV), but we are encouraging as many members as possible to step up and be vaccinated as soon as possible subject to medical advice.
We are obliged to alert members that it is possible that some, and possibly all, employers in education will require staff be vaccinated and advise them of the likely consequences.
We have provided advice to members about their legal options if MV is introduced which we consider, with a few exceptions, to be very limited.
If MV is introduced at your workplace, the union will assess the lawfulness of the proposed policy to ensure it complies with the employer’s legal obligations to employees.
Members are entitled to know that the legal prospects of challenging a termination for refusing MV are poor so that they can decide how to proceed. If it happens, we will advise them and, if there are any reasonable prospects of winning, represent them.
The Union doesn’t make the law; we advise members and represent them. We also work hard to keep all our members safe at work.
It is highly likely that a mandatory vaccination directive by an employer would be upheld by the courts as lawful and reasonable.
Ultimately the Union’s charter is to protect and advance the collective interests of its members. While expending enormous effort protecting individuals from injustice and unlawful treatment in the workplace, the Union must balance individual rights with the safety of all its members in the workplace.
The State and Federal health authorities have determined that high levels of vaccination are the best protection for the community in order to minimise serious illness and death.
Unvaccinated staff and students in schools present a serious ongoing risk to school communities. The interests of all union members collectively are in having a work environment where students, staff and other members of the community are vaccinated to the extent possible.
We have campaigned all year for priority access to vaccinations for education staff and welcome the decision to allow Year 12 students about to take exams and their supervising staff such access during September’s ‘vaccination blitz’.
The Union’s priority remains urgent access to COVID-19 vaccinations for all school staff. School employers must support staff in accessing the vaccine through paid vaccination leave. We acknowledge that many employers in our sector have already implemented paid leave for vaccination, testing and isolation.
Any employer proposing to mandate vaccinations in their workplace must:
a. have exhausted efforts to encourage staff to be vaccinated,
b. engage in comprehensive and meaningful consultation with the union, HSRs and employees,
c. permit exceptions for genuine and compelling medical circumstances and where access to a recommended/appropriate vaccine is not reasonably available, and
d. ensure that there is no detrimental impact on members who possess a protected attribute under relevant discrimination legislation.
We will work constructively with employers in our sector to uphold the health and safety of our members and the community to minimise the risks associated with COVID-19