In an email titled “Update on Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy”, Niagara Region Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) Ron Tripp announced, “it is no longer practical to have a mandatory vaccine policy for all Niagara Region employees.”
The policy will be “updated” on Feb 12, 2023.
The policy was put into place in September 2021.
“The policy reflected both public health advice and our understanding of the virus at that time. The establishment of the policy was done in an effort to both slow the spread and better protect staff and the public from COVID-19”
“Now, with current science and public health guidance, it is no longer practical to have a mandatory vaccine policy for all Niagara Region Employees.”
CAO Ron Tripp
Tripp advises that “other health and safety measures (i.e. masking, physical distancing) will continue to be reviewed regularly with updates to be provided accordingly.”
“Certain sectors of our operations may require additional measures which will be captured by departmental policies, such as Long Term Care who continue to require asymptomatic screen testing” wrote Tripp.
“Human Resources will be working with the applicable Union groups as to how this change in policy may affect outstand grievances filed on behalf of unionized staff”, wrote Tripp.
“The region continues to strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19, including staying up-to-date on all COVID-19 booster shots”, wrote Tripp.
This email was sent from a source to Rob Primo in the form of a screenshot; Primo published it on his social media on Jan 30, which was subsequently republished on Twitter.
Sixty-six staff were fired in 2022
“They have been terminated, with cause. There’s no going back” said CAO Tripp on Feb 17, 2022, when questioned on the fate of fired staff once the policy would eventually be rescinded.
However, the letter states, “Human Resources will be working with the applicable Union groups as to how this change in policy may affect outstand grievances filed on behalf of unionized staff”, so there may be some going back, after all.
“When we first went forward with the policy, it was around just under 200 that were not in compliance, so the difference between the 66 [that were fired] and the 200 are now in compliance”, said Tripp in February 2022 (see video, below)
