The Rail, Tram, and Bus Union has issued its position on mandatory vaccination of its members.
The RTBU stated that the key to protecting rail, tram and bus workers from COVID-19 lies in:
- long term testing in the workplace comprising of a range of measures such as saliva swab testing, rapid antigen testing and PCR surveillance testing
- a proactive priority vaccination rollout to rail, tram and bus workers at their workplace for those wishing to be vaccinated
- incentives from government and employers to promote vaccination of workers.
An RBTU statement condemned the “lack of leadership by the Federal Government in this area, and its failure to ensure all workers in the transport industry can access vaccines”.
This failure led to an urgency in the vaccine rollout that has forced consideration of mandatory vaccination, which is an entirely unworkable solution, the union said.
The RTBU prefer optimal vaccination rates for the health and safety of everyone involved in transport systems, recognising that “there will be some who may not be able to take the COVID vaccines due to religious or medical reasons or even because they are conscientious objectors”.
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