York Region will end vaccine mandate policy following agreement with CUPE Local 905

Union says it will continue to fight for employees, heads into arbitration for those terminated during sick leave

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 10, 2023
Brian Capitao

York Region has agreed to end its vaccine mandate policy for non-long-term care workers effective March 1, 2023.

After firing several employees back in 2021 for failure to comply with its vaccine mandate policy, York Region has decided to hire back most of its employees in a settlement, according to CUPE Local 905.

“There was a group of workers who have been not having any income for the last year as a result of this policy. And we are glad to see that there is closure for some of those individuals and that they do have the opportunity to return back to the workplace if they so choose, effective March 1,” said CUPE Local 905 president Katherine Grzejszak.

However, some outstanding issues remain, according to Grzejszak.

“It is the union's position that there should have been exemptions made on potentially creed, grounds of creed and for medical reasons, and that has not been resolved as part of this resolution to the policy grievance,” said Grzejszak.

There are still outstanding issues are still heading into arbitration. In addition to the employees who should have been protected by religious creed or medical exemption, there were still some employees terminated whilst on sick leave.

The union says it will continue to fight for those employees and are heading into arbitration for those terminated during sick leave.

“There were folks who were sick and were off on sick leave when the employer brought in the policy. And so, it is the union's position that the policy should not have applied to those individuals until they were ready to return to work from sick leave,” said Grzejszak.

In response, the region has issued a statement.

“Confidential agreements have been reached with the union (CUPE) with respect to the majority of the grievances filed relating to the vaccination policies. Some individual grievances continue to be in arbitration,” said Patrick Casey, director of corporate communications in the Regional Municipality of York.

“The Region remains committed to providing a safe workplace and responding to the changing needs and circumstances in response to COVID-19 and we commit to sharing more information with you, as applicable,” Casey added.