Hamilton councillors narrowly vote to scrap requirement for city workers to be vaccinated

Hamilton is a step closer to scrapping the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its workers now that city councillors have narrowly voted to lift it.

City council's general issues committee voted 6-4 Wednesday to get rid of the policy. If council ratifies that decision next week, it means 64 employees on unpaid leave for failing to disclose their vaccination status would no longer lose their jobs. 

It was a close vote with as many councillors absent as people who voted in favour. If approved, the policy change will go into effect May 2.

Lora Fontana, head of human resources, said her preference would be to keep requiring staff to be vaccinated. But the province is shifting away from mandatory vaccination for certain spaces, which makes it legally challenging for the city to defend a mandate. It will still require new hires to be vaccinated.

"The requirement to have all of our employees fully vaccinated isn't one that will be supported from a legal perspective," she said. 

"But we can mandate it for new hires. We do have that flexibility and authority to do so. We can control our destiny in that respect and that's what we're intending to do."

Nearly 94 per cent of the city's workforce, or 7,149 people, are considered fully vaccinated, Fontana said. There are 505 employees who have not disclosed their status, but of those, 441 are participating in the city's rapid testing program and still on the job as a result. Sixty-four people are on unpaid leaves of absence.

The proposed changes would mean those doing the rapid tests would no longer have to do so. Exceptions would be paramedic services, where employees would be tested at the beginning of each shift, and the Red Hill Childcare Centre, where employees would test three times per week.

Under the changes, there would still be a vaccination requirement at city-run long-term care homes.

Friction at the meeting

The discussion Wednesday was fiery at times. Coun. Terry Whitehead (Ward 14, west Mountain) accused the clerk's office of unfairly preventing city staffers from speaking to council on the issue. 

Several councillors raised points of order about his conduct. Coun. Nrinder Nann (Ward 3, central lower city) was chairing the meeting at the time and asked him to apologize to the staff.

Some councillors, such as Esther Pauls (Ward 8, central Mountain), said penalizing unvaccinated workers unfairly prevents them from being able to put food on the table. 

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who recently had COVID-19, voted the other way. He said the decision lifts responsibility from people who chose against doing what was right for the community.

"[It says] don't you fret one little bit because you didn't do what we needed to do to help our staff."

Council will cast a final vote on April 27.

How they voted

Who was in favour of lifting the vaccination requirement

Terry Whitehead (Ward 14), Arlene VanderBeek (Ward 13), Maria Pearson (10), Esther Pauls (8), Jason Farr (2), Brad Clark (9).

Who was opposed

Maureen Wilson (1), Brenda Johnson (11), Mayor Fred Eisenberger, John-Paul Danko (8).

Absent

Russ Powers (5), Judi Partridge (15), Nrinder Nann (3), Sam Merulla (4), Tom Jackson (6), Lloyd Ferguson (12).