Fedusa warns on vaccine overreach

• Federation endorses mandatory shots but says wide-ranging consultations must take place

The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa), one of the country’s biggest labour federations, says mandatory vaccinations must strike a fine balance between public health and compliance with the constitution.

The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa), one of the country’s biggest labour federations, has said mandatory vaccinations must strike a fine balance between public health and compliance with the constitution.

More companies are enforcing policies that make it mandatory for employees to take the jab against Covid-19.

Fedusa said while it supports mandatory vaccinations for the sake of opening up the economy, its social partners at the National

Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) need to investigate the complexities of mandatory vaccinations.

Godfrey Selematsela, who was re-elected as president of the 600,000-member federation on Monday, said while Fedusa fully endorses the government’s plans for mandatory jabs, its social partners at Nedlac need to investigate the pros and cons of introducing these.

“This should be in addition to investigating the feasibility of restricting access by unvaccinated individuals to shared spaces and public facilities such as workplaces, public transport, restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals and places of worships,” he said.

Selematsela said the outcome of such investigations and consultations should strike “a good balance between public health concerns, constitutional provisions, cultural and religious beliefs and the imperatives of economic recovery and reconstruction.

“An important area of focus for organised labour would be whether both the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Compensation for Occupational

Injuries and Diseases Act should be amended to include Covid-19 as an occupational disease that triggers fair compensation for affected workers.”

Covid-19 has battered the SA economy, which declined 6.4% and led to a loss of about 1.4million jobs in 2020.

VACCINATION SURGE

The identification of the highly infectious Omicron variant in the country has led to a surge in the number of people getting inoculated.

The country’s blue-chip companies including Standard

Bank and insurance and investment group Old Mutual have moved to make it mandatory for their employees to get vaccinated. MTN, Africa’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, will enforce mandatory vaccination policies for staff from 2022.

Insurer Discovery has reportedly said 94% of its staff are now vaccinated, less than three months after it implemented a mandatory vaccination policy.

In his weekly newsletter on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said as the country enters the fourth wave, and as it gears up for the festive period, the priority was for more people to get vaccinated.

“Vaccination is essential for our economic recovery because as more people are vaccinated, more areas of economic activity will be opened up. We can do our work and socialise under less stringent restrictions, and our lives can return to some degree of normality,” the president said.

“We will soon be convening a meeting of the national coronavirus command council to review the state of the pandemic. This will enable us to take whatever further measures are needed to keep people safe and healthy.”

Ramaphosa said scientific evidence shows that vaccination “is the most effective means of preventing the spread of new infections, and that vaccines reduce severe illness, hospitalisation and death”.

Addressing the country in November after the Omicron variant was identified in SA,

Ramaphosa said the government had been engaging with social partners on introducing measures calling for vaccination to be required to access workplaces, public transport and other establishments.

He said there was “broad agreement” on the need for such measures during discussions with social partners at Nedlac.

The government had set up a team to undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory for specific activities and locations.

The team will report to the interministerial committee on vaccines chaired by deputy president David Mabuza.

AS MORE PEOPLE ARE VACCINATED, MORE AREAS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY WILL BE OPENED UP