Photo by Whitehorse Star
City weighing fate of unvaccinated workers
The City of Whitehorse has not decided absolutely what it will do with employees who refuse to get vaccinated, says its director of the human resources department.
The City of Whitehorse has not decided absolutely what it will do with employees who refuse to get vaccinated, says its director of the human resources department.
Lindsay Schneider told the Star this morning employees are being asked to fill out an on-line document by Dec. 12 indicating whether they’re fully vaccinated and whether they intend to get fully vaccinated by the Feb. 20, 2022 deadline imposed by the city.
The city issued a news release Friday setting out the requirement for all employees to be fully vaccinated by Feb. 20.
The city has 435-plus employees, 330 of them permanent.
At this point, Schneider said, officials are looking at leave without pay for employees who refuse to get vaccinated.
The city will accommodate those who cannot get vaccinated because of medical or health issues, she said, and ensure they have a safe workplace for themselves and anyone who works with them.
“As one of the largest employers in the territory, the city has an obligation to protect its workforce, as well as the public that uses our facilities on a daily basis,” Mayor Laura Cabott said in Friday’s release.
“The safety of our residents is a top priority as we continue to offer a high level of service during this pandemic.”
The release said the decision to require vaccinations is supported by the desire to fulfill obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act of the Yukon, which requires the city to take all reasonable steps to ensure its workplace is safe.
Schneider says there has not been a lot of resistance to the city’s vaccine order; in fact, there has generally been a positive response.
Currently, she said, about 25 per cent of city employees have filled out the on-line document.
Steve Geick, the president of the Yukon Employees’ Union, which represents the vast majority of city employees, said today the union fully supports vaccinations.
But at the same time, it wants to ensure there are no negative repercussions for employees who refuse the vaccination, he said.
Geick said there are a lot of questions from union members at this point. Just like everywhere else, there are those who support vaccinations and those who oppose them, he said.
Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar
In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.
Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.
Comments (40)
Up 6 Down 3
Josey Wales on Dec 3, 2021 at 7:56 pm
TheHammer...gotta say I gave ya a up thumb, that was purdy good.
That is the longest name I have ever been called, well crafted too.
Yeah, born the way I was had zip to do with me.
Pigment challenged...yup.
Not really a pride thing, but I can pee my name in the snow legibly right or left handed.
Not giving a failing grade obviously, but you could’ve wedged a few ism’s
and or phobias.
Still did well, carry on The Hammer.
Up 13 Down 4
Salt on Dec 3, 2021 at 5:03 pm
@Lawl
You and Roy must share braincells. You just can't make a coherent point or valid analogy.
1. You say any business can refuse anyone service, for any reason. Human rights laws say otherwise.
2. Your entire initial rant assumes that only the unvaccinated get/transmit Covid and that all the unvaccinated are infected/infectious. Healthy unvaccinated people are no more "smoking on a plane", "liquored up", or "walking biohazards" than healthy vaccinated people. Infected people, which can be vaccinated or unvaccinated are the only real concern.
3. Your second post reverses the false logic of the first. You now make the point that the vaccines only reduce the impact of infection and don't stop transmission/infection. You also say that Covid will spread through the entire population. I completely agree with these two points. The thing is, if you believe in these two points then mandates and restrictions based on vaccine status make ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!
Up 13 Down 9
Mr Facts on Dec 2, 2021 at 6:36 pm
And Nathan whimpering?
"So be it, room for more people to work and contribute to society. "
What were the ones who stood up and got fired doing? Wow. You must be a bot.
Up 8 Down 13
TheHammer on Dec 2, 2021 at 5:59 pm
Salt Dec 1@ Is it possible for you to summarize that massive load of incomprehensible tripe in a couple of sentences? Stand tall, you are not alone, the elder statesman of the comments pages, master of pure unadulterated drivel, is there with you, our very own 'Bananzajoe', and his side kick, master of name calling, both guns blazing, free thinker, 'white' flashing like a neon sign across his corn on the cob comments, Josey 'proud boy' Wales.
Up 13 Down 17
Lawl on Dec 2, 2021 at 4:42 pm
Oh God Rick, you Shipyards guys are like a broken record. Israel this, Gibraltar that. Comorbidity here. Transmission vector there.
Look, it’s pretty clear you aren’t an Immunologist even though on Facebook the local tinfoil hat brigade thinks you’re the ‘smart one’ because you occasionally use multi syllable words.
Vaccines don’t halt the transmission of any virus, never have. FULL STOP
Vaccines are a single component of many in the repertoire used to slow and prevent transmission. Maybe you’ve heard off the safe 6+1. If you were able to live within those guidelines your chance of contracting would be next to nil. Not zero, zero doesn’t exist.
Similarly, condoms help prevent unwanted pregnancy but they aren’t 100% effective. You have to know how to properly use them. You could use other method simultaneously. Spermicide. IUD. The pill. Vasectomy. Incidentally, NONE of those are 100% either.
In summary, COVID will spread through the entire population. As will it’s variants. You might want to write this part down and let the Shipyards FreeDumb crew know: A vaccinated person can contract and spread COVID but the vaxxed will have lesser symptoms and a better recovery. If they spread it to unvaxxed people those folks are looking at a 2% mortality rate and many that recover have lifelong ramifications.
Up 30 Down 17
Rick S on Dec 2, 2021 at 2:07 pm
@ Lawl
The vaccinated are the main vectors of transmission worldwide. Omicron was discovered in vaccinated individuals and vaccinated air travelers spread Omicron globally from there (not a lot of those pesky unvaccinated people on airplanes at the moment). One of the Omicron carriers that landed in Israel was TRIPLE vaccinated.
What planet are you living on?
Up 18 Down 32
Nathan Living on Dec 2, 2021 at 12:05 am
There may be opportunities at the City and GY as people refuse to become vaccinated.
So be it, room for more people to work and contribute to society.
The vaccine is not 100 percent effective which is not a good thing but we will have to live with the nuances of covid.
Up 26 Down 32
Lawl on Dec 1, 2021 at 4:55 pm
Mathew
No where in the charter does it say you have a right to fly.
It says travel. Unless there is a State of Emergency that states otherwise, you can walk, crawl, canoe or drive a car. Airlines, like any business can refuse anyone service, for any reason. If you’re infecting their vaxxed customers is now a liability they aren’t willing to take on. Just like smoking on a plane. Or getting liquored up on a plane. Here’s the part you are really missing though, my legal rights (life, liberty and personal security) are guaranteed under the charter and that superceeds your rights as an admitted walking biohazard.
This is the end of the story son. You’ve lost. You can keep screaming, crying and digging that hole but the entire planet has moved on. You lost. It’s over.
Up 19 Down 29
Anie on Dec 1, 2021 at 3:35 pm
Matthew, I apologize for spelling your name incorrectly. I think I understand, now that you have provided specific references to the Charter. However, we will continue to disagree because what we have is your opinion that the Covid rules violate those sections, and my opinion that they do not. In the end, this will be resolved through the courts. I'd like to point out, though, that several challenges in Provincial courts, have failed. In addition to reminding us that activities such as entering stores are not a right, the courts have consistently pointed to the Charter allowance for the greater good. So let's just agree to disagree.
Up 33 Down 13
Salt on Dec 1, 2021 at 9:19 am
“‘But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the “German Firm” stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.
‘And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying “Jew swine,” collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.
‘You have gone almost all the way yourself. Life is a continuing process, a flow, not a succession of acts and events at all. It has flowed to a new level, carrying you with it, without any effort on your part. On this new level you live, you have been living more comfortably every day, with new morals, new principles.
‘You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined.
‘Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing). You remember those early meetings of your department in the university when, if one had stood, others would have stood, perhaps, but no one stood. A small matter, a matter of hiring this man or that, and you hired this one rather than that. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.’”
—A philologist colleague of Milton Mayer’s, Chapter 13, "They Thought They Were Free."
Up 36 Down 20
Matthew on Dec 1, 2021 at 4:25 am
@Anie, spell my name right at least... Sections 1, and 6 clearly don't apply here.. let's chat about them, section 6, being unvaxed I can't fly anywhere in Canada or get a government (some private) job.. therefore section 6 is garbage. Section 1, I'm being discriminated against merely because I don't trust big pharmaceutical companies as they've proven to lie countless times. Section 2, my fundamental freedoms are gone as I can't travel or enter stores in Canada, I've also tried countless times to contact our gov, only to have no reply, gotta love democracy. And if you want to go farther, section 15 on equality, unvaxxed clearly aren't considered equal as mentioned above..
Up 52 Down 13
My Opinion on Nov 30, 2021 at 8:16 pm
SHAME ON YOU.
When this pandemic started, while people huddled at home in fear, sheltered in place to afraid to go to their offices. There was a class of people that stepped up. No I am not talking of first responders. I am instead speaking of essential services, The truck drivers who were heralded as hero's. Small businesses trying to survive while providing goods. People who fix your car, repair or build your house. People who worked in all types of entry level jobs to provide the necessities of life for the fragile entitled group, the same group that thinks so highly of themselves and their social standing, the educated.
Now you vilify the very ones that provided for you even a year before there was such a thing as a vaccine. You all should be ashamed. You are Bullies and like a pack of hounds. Look in the mirror and see what you do. Take their jobs, deny them access to the very restaurants that they worked in to serve you. Deny them access to health care, a dentist. What have you become?
Up 22 Down 28
drum on Nov 30, 2021 at 5:14 pm
How many parents do not get their children vaccinated on a regular basis? We are told by the Health Experts what our children should be vaccinated against, Measles etc. Why is this so different? Protect yourself and your family.
Up 23 Down 34
Anie on Nov 30, 2021 at 2:46 pm
Mathew, I have read, and also studied, the Charter. I am still waiting for referenced explanation of which laws have been broken. Just because I don't swallow what you say doesn't mean I should not participate in a conversation. Seems you are arguing that those rights you claim to be so knowledgeable about apply only to like minded people
Up 45 Down 19
Jeff Bikaboom on Nov 30, 2021 at 1:35 pm
For the uninformed:
It's called ADE. Antibody-dependent Enhancement.
New Omicron variant originated in 4 vaccinated people.
One law being broken right now:
"Canadian Medical Law upholds the right of all people to draw on a broad information base when deciding on medical treatments or drugs offered themselves and/or their children, particularly treatments/drugs associated with serious health risks. VACCINES ARE SUCH DRUGS."
I do not have time to get into privacy laws and coercion right now.
Did the prison let their staff go yet? Will the prisoners be allowed out of their cells if there is no one to watch them?
The sooner everyone get fired the sooner the class action lawsuits can start. You know, because of all of the laws that are being broken.
Up 48 Down 17
Deano on Nov 30, 2021 at 12:06 pm
As Mark Twain once said, "If you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause, and reflect." What an absolute embarrassment for the majority who find themselves once again on the absolute wrong side of history. Your thumbs down or retorts on comments from an aware and researched minority will do nothing to exonerate you from choosing the side of discrimination and communist enslavement. Life always reflects one's consciousness back at them.
Up 36 Down 5
yukong on Nov 30, 2021 at 11:44 am
Good luck getting a medical exemption. Doctors aren't permitted by the CMOH to issue them.
Up 28 Down 26
Matthew on Nov 30, 2021 at 11:05 am
@Anie read the charter of rights, then apply what you read to the current state of Canada, if you don't find anything wrong, you shouldn't be in this conversation..
Up 15 Down 12
Wilf Carter on Nov 30, 2021 at 10:49 am
Over 10% of City of Whitehorse resident are not vaccinated or 3000 people. How many of them can't be vaccinated?
Up 23 Down 21
Yukon on Nov 30, 2021 at 9:55 am
Feb. 20, 2022.. up the deadline. Stop dragging things out.
Up 30 Down 34
Reason on Nov 30, 2021 at 8:43 am
For the Conspiracy Theorist,
It is called Antigenic shift, look it up.
The vaccine does prevent the virus (we all know that) but it does reduce the severity. The reason that is important is because the most undesirable mutations (Antigenic Shift) occurs when a individual is infected with another virus causing a blending of traits. This happens most in those experiencing a serve reaction to the virus.
This is why the new Omicron variant comes from Africa because of its 25% vaccination rate. This is also why it is important to get the normal flu shot. To prevent you from getting severely sick with both allowing Antigenic shift.
Up 36 Down 25
Sad Situation on Nov 30, 2021 at 5:13 am
BTW: The Front page picture of that small girl wearing a mask is so sad. Just look in her eyes. Great work people.
Up 39 Down 29
Mike on Nov 29, 2021 at 10:13 pm
First comment Barry said it all beautifully. Just want to add one fact - the variants are not created in the unvaccinated they are created in the vaccinated. The virus is mutating every 10 hours to get around the vaccine that has more health issues than fentanyl and when people's hearts stop beating from side effects of this vaccine maybe, I doubt it, but maybe the sheep will figure it out that the Shepherd's are the ones who lead you to slaughter not the people who just said no.
Up 36 Down 25
Salt on Nov 29, 2021 at 9:01 pm
It’s been informative to behold the amount of contradictory thoughts new normies can believe in. Dentists can’t choose to not work on an HIV positive patient (DISCRIMINATION!!), but safety demands that you can’t allow healthy unvaccinated people to work, because (just like the vaccinated) they might get an illness with a 99.8% recovery rate. People who think this is about safety are broken.
Up 31 Down 17
Yukoner32 on Nov 29, 2021 at 8:46 pm
Kate White needs to do a better job of controlling her unions (YEU and YTA). It's ridiculous that they keep coming out against vaccine measures like this.
Hey Geick, you sound pretty slow when you keep saying you support vaccine mandates but oppose any consequences. You can't have it both ways. Maybe you are just hoping that the general public doesn't understand basic logic?
My other question is, what does Councilor Ted Laking think? After all he is the current Yukon Party Chief of Staff and they oppose vaccine mandates.
Up 43 Down 14
bonanzajoe on Nov 29, 2021 at 8:44 pm
"indicating whether they’re fully vaccinated". So, just what "fully vaccinated" now means. When I got my two shots, I was considered fully vaccinated. Has that changed now? Will "fully vaccinated" now mean, including all the booster shots in the future? The government better tell us. Many of us who took the two shots will not be taking the booster. So, where does that leave us?
Up 41 Down 19
bonanzajoe on Nov 29, 2021 at 8:41 pm
Comrade Geick is showing his true socialist colors. He won't tangle with the Politburo. So, he will throw the non vaccinated employees under the Tanks. Nice going comrade. Lenin would be proud of you.
Up 35 Down 18
Max Mack on Nov 29, 2021 at 8:20 pm
I see Cabott has the talking points nailed down.
Just another brute in sheep's clothing.
The OHS Act does not require vaccine mandates or vaccination disclosure. If it did, it would be an illegal requirement under the Charter.
Reasonable measures? Since when are vaccine mandates and mandatory vaccination disclosure rules reasonable for a vaxx that does NOT PREVENT TRANSMISSION . . .
Up 29 Down 19
Sally on Nov 29, 2021 at 7:33 pm
The vaccinated should be upset with this as well. When 10 to 20 percent of your coworkers are gone, guess who will be expected to pick up the slack? The city can't fill all it's positions now with very high turnover. You need to speak up now.
Up 36 Down 8
DMZ on Nov 29, 2021 at 7:08 pm
I don't see how these vaccine mandates can go anywhere, now that they've brought the booster shot "craze" (as a respected epidemiologist referred to it on the Sunday Magazine last week) into it, and now further complicated things by talking about adjusting the vaccine imminently in response to the O variant.
It would be great if there was any evidence that any of these governments thought this program through.
Up 30 Down 17
Fred on Nov 29, 2021 at 6:19 pm
I understand the need to ensure safe workplaces across YG/City of Whitehorse as per occupational health and safety legislation. However, other methods can be used to achieve the same outcome such as rapid access testing for those who are not vaccinated, and continuing to support those workers who can continue to work from home. I don’t agree pushing or basically forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do based on their beliefs.
More than ever now we need our decision makers to use and practice emotional agility and not complicate the process. We should respect those beliefs and not punish or lay the frame work to dismiss people from their jobs but instead use some common sense, show some compassion and empathy for what people are experiencing right now.
Decision makers are walking down a dangerous path that will result in low workplace morale, contributing to the inability to create psychological safe work places for people, increased sick leave, decreased productivity etc.. I feel Government is taking a huge step backwards when it was a perfect opportunity to take a giant leap forward.
Up 20 Down 42
V for vax on Nov 29, 2021 at 6:00 pm
Yes, non Vax believers don't deserve tax dollar paychecks, they do not have the best interest for the greater good. This exodus allows new, non - colonial thinkers to work in City of Whitehorse jobs! Yay!
Up 31 Down 19
Juniper Jackson on Nov 29, 2021 at 5:51 pm
Barry McKockiner: Wooo Hoooo! I totally support your comments. I can not add anything to this topic that you have not said better. You are, perhaps, too common sense for the crazies to follow. The 'underground' is already started.
Up 31 Down 42
Great News on Nov 29, 2021 at 4:42 pm
Great news, hopefully CoW will punt the antivaxxers out. The Whitehorse Star comments section is always a great place to get a good laugh.
Up 43 Down 25
How Disappointing on Nov 29, 2021 at 4:22 pm
Well, I had hoped the City would have some kahonas to stand up to all this nonsense but, monkey see monkey do. The Yukon has a what, 90% vaccination rate? Can somebody, anybody, who can think for themselves just admit this vaccine isn’t doing squat to stop the transmission of this virus? And for pete’s sake quit blaming everything on the unvaccinated. This has hit mass hysteria levels, it’s ridiculous. And, now the omicron variant… ooh, we should all be soooo scared and lining up for booster shots now. Give me a break!! Don’t worry folks, when they get to the last Covid variant you’ll know because it will be called communism. Shame on you YG, shame on you City of Whitehorse.
Up 32 Down 32
Anie on Nov 29, 2021 at 4:16 pm
Someone said "so many laws are being broken right now it's unbelievable." Name one. Just one that is actually being broken, and please quote which clause a legal expert (someone who has been called to the bar and therefore has studied more than Blacks Law Dictionary) has told you has been affected.
Up 38 Down 11
Vern Schlimbesser on Nov 29, 2021 at 3:50 pm
It would appear they blindly followed YTG into declaring unvaccinated employees would be fired, then suspended, and now, when the reality of the situation sinks in, they're not sure what they meant.
This is now the routine; COW just follows more senior jurisdictions in leaping onto the latest hype, validating another narrative, or whatever it takes to stay in the media focus.
Municipalites were the last bastion of common sense in the "old days". No longer. Have we become so pathetic and short sighted we reward this behavior?
Up 98 Down 57
I said Pardon on Nov 29, 2021 at 3:02 pm
Also in this issue of the Star, the Yukon’s coroner is pleading with the government to do something about the overdose numbers in the territory. Sorry Ms. Jones. The government is too busy shooting up their staff and children with vaccines for a disease with a 98% survival rate, Interestingly, why haven’t we haven’t heard from the coroner about excess Covid deaths......
Carry on following the science, everyone.
Up 122 Down 61
Slow on Nov 29, 2021 at 2:46 pm
Once again, Yukon's governments are far behind anyone who reads the internet. Mandating vaccination does not ensure a safe workplace. Just last week, the WHO stated the vaccines reduce transmission of Delta by about 40%. That is no silver bullet. Clearly the vaccinated still transmit the virus among themselves. The idea that unvaccinated people are a threat is a farce, and an evil and destructive one.
Up 127 Down 75
Barry McKockiner on Nov 29, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Nothing about any of this has made any sense from the beginning. Wear a mask when walking around, but then I sit down with 6 other coworkers at the break room table, masks off, 3 feet away from everyone, lol. It's the smartest virus around, don't you know? When no one is liable for any damages that this vaccine may cause then it's time to move on. And day by day, the proof is becoming very clear that it is indeed harming people. My employer doesn't care about my health and safety. Heck, my own manager proved months ago they don't care about my health or safety (unrelated event). The union will toe whosoever line is paying their bills. It's all one big joke.
Have fun with losing a big chunk of your staff because it's bad enough right now without enough people. Go get your endless boosters so you can feel smug and believe you are making a difference when you just can't admit you were duped. The goalposts will never stop moving.
So many laws are being broken right know it's unbelievable. No one except my doctor should have access to my personal, private medical information. But here we are, people showing their private information so they can get a healthy Big Mac. Funny I don't ever remember people taking selfies with their positive Chlamydia test and plastering it all over their Facebook.
People are so dense today thinking unvaccinated people are some type of a threat. You only believe that because your TV and media does your thinking for you. It's disgusting how they have turned us all against each other. All part of the plan though. Too bad people can't think logically or critically anymore, but rather with childish emotional outbursts not grounded in any bias of reality.
I'm going to stand on the right side of history, and if I lose everything, and all my friends and family because of it, that's what I'm prepared to do. BRING IT ON.
I'm actually excited about this situation. Because this will create an underground economy/society with like minded people. We will survive. We will thrive. I don't need to follow a society that threatens and coerces me. I don't need others to tell me how to run my life or how to think or what I should put in my body.