The Yukon government is out with the latest numbers on the employees affected by the vaccine mandate.

John Streicker, the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, spoke to the Star Thursday afternoon.

He said 107 full-time permanent employees with the government are currently on unpaid leave after failing to provide the necessary document on their vaccination status.

Nearly 6,000 (5,767 people) government employees have provided the attestations the government requires to track whether they have been vaccinated, Streicker said.

Another 44 have asked for exemptions. Those requests haven’t been ruled on as yet.

That number represents approximately 95 per cent of the government workforce.

Another 204 on-call, casual and seasonal workers haven’t yet provided their documentation.

Streicker said an unknown number of those employees, as seasonal workers, aren’t being expected to provide the information until they resume working for the government.

That’s likely making the numbers look worse than they are.

He was particularly interested in refuting some numbers attributed to the Whitehorse Correction Centre earlier in the week by the Yukon Employees’ Union. The YEU suggested as many as 30 people at the centre were on unpaid leave.

The Department of Justice has 11 full-time workers on unpaid leave, with another 11 in the casual and on-call listings, the minister advised the Star.

Steicker said the number of guards on unpaid leave is nine, according to the information his staff provided, although that wasn’t necessarily updated on Thursday.

“It’s a very fluid situation,” he said.

Streicker said he expected those numbers will drop, but not rapidly.

Some of the people on unpaid leave might well be highly resistant to changing their views on the vaccine mandate, he said, but there was no way – beyond anecdotal information – to establish their numbers.

The Department of Health and Social Services continues to lead the way in terms of sheer numbers of employees on unpaid leave. However, it is also one of the largest government departments.

Twenty full-time employees are on unpaid leave, according to Streicker’s data, with 91 more casual and on-call workers on leave as well.

Streicker said there are no “significant clusters” in departments nor in the rural communities that he has been made aware of.

The government is not officially tracking numbers of workers on unpaid leave in allied businesses and organizations, Streicker said.

Some, such as ATCO Electric Yukon, haven’t finalized their own vaccine mandates as of yet, Streicker said.

Others, such as Yukon Energy, have synchronized vaccine mandates with the government.

Streicker said he is making efforts to have the number of workers updated weekly and possibly published on the government website.

The numbers are to be announced during the weekly COVID-19 briefings, which typically occur on Wednesdays.

Reached Thursday afternoon, YEU president Steve Geick had no comment on the numbers Streicker released.

“I have no way of challenging the numbers, and I’m not going down that road at this point,” he said.

Ted Hupé, the president of the Yukon Association of Educational Professionals (formerly the Yukon Teachers’ Association), said Thursay he “finally” had official numbers for education staff who are off the job on unpaid leave.

He said 13 teachers are affected across the Yukon, and nine educational assistants.

While the numbers are better than expected and somewhat manageable, the missing people are still placing more stress on schools, Hupé said.

Education professionals have been under mounting stress for nearly two years now due to the pandemic, Hupé added.

The government can try to replace those teachers and educational assistants with temporary or contract workers, he explained, but recruiting replacements is next to impossible.

There’s a variety of reasons for that, Hupé said. Due to COVID-19, fewer people are willing to consider moving from their current locations.

Many prospective workers are being put off by the housing shortage in the Yukon as well, Hupé said.

Even though the Yukon generally offers better rates of pay and more opportunity, the inability to find a place to live is scaring many people away, he suggested.

“I really kind of feel for the Department of Education,” Hupe said. “They’re in a tough position.”

Stephanie Cunha, a Yukon Energy spokeswoman, said, “Five Yukon Energy employees are on leave without pay as a result of Yukon Government’s vaccine mandate.

“This represents about five per cent of our labour force.”

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