Unions back mandatory vaccination for port workers

The two main uni­ons rep­res­ent­ing New Zea­l­and port work­ers are back­ing the Gov­ern­ment move to make COVID-19 vac­cin­a­tions man­dat­ory for port work­ers.

RMTU Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Wayne But­son says work­ers should fol­low the advice of pub­lic health author­it­ies.

He says with ongo­ing glob­al out­breaks of the new Delta vari­ant of COVID-19, New Zea­l­and has to use all avail­able strategies to pro­tect front­line work­ers and the com­munity.

MUNZ Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says the need to pro­tect port work­ers and the com­munity is the main con­cern for uni­ons.

He says it will be neces­sary to work through the issues for work­ers who for whatever reas­on choose not to get vac­cin­ated, on a case by case basis.

He says up to now, health and safety pro­to­cols and the use of the PPE (per­son­al pro­tect­ive equip­ment) by port work­ers have had a good out­come, but any extra pre­cau­tions were wel­come.