LABOUR federation Cosatu, a key ally of the governing ANC, has changed its mind and says it now supports mandatory Covid-19 vaccination as suggested by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The plan by government and some employers to make Covid-19 vaccination at work mandatory has already pitted business against labour movements.
Previously, the labour federation was against mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.
Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said workers in the health sector had paid with their lives, while those in the service sector have seen mass job losses, as some hotels have been forced to shut.
“Vaccination is not the worst option right now as things stand – having people lose their right to earn a living is the worst option,” he said.
Cosatu’s position is not shared by some of the other unions, including the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which says it will fight tooth and nail to protect its members from the repercussions of resisting the jab, should it become compulsory to inoculate.
Trade union Solidarity is also against mandatory vaccination.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) said the jabs have demonstrated that they work, but it will also not support mandatory vaccination.
Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) president Godfrey Selematsela said on Monday it also supported mandatory vaccination of workers.
On Sunday night, Ramaphosa announced that a government task team is looking into making vaccination against the coronavirus compulsory for specific activities and locations.
“Government has set up a task team that will undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory for specific activities and locations,” he said.
“The task team will report to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Vaccination chaired by the deputy president, which will make recommendations to Cabinet on a fair and sustainable approach to vaccine mandates.”
Ramaphosa said that the introduction of such measures is a difficult and complex issue, but is necessary to combat the spread of the virus.
“If we do not address this seriously and as a matter of urgency, we will continue to be vulnerable to new variants and will continue to suffer new waves of infection.”
Last month, financial services firm Discovery Group became the latest employer to announce plans to make vaccination compulsory for workers.
The company’s comments come after Business Leadership SA (BLSA) chief executive Busi Mavuso said that she expected “to see businesses becoming more strident in requiring vaccination both from their customers and employees”.
Discovery Group chief Adrian Gore said: “Discovery intends to implement a mandatory vaccination policy effective 1 January 2022, given the clear moral and social obligation as informed by our core purpose to make people healthier and to enhance and protect all employees’ lives; and by our values, particularly, acting as a force for social good; and supported by a legal obligation to protect and safeguard our people from all potential risks.”
Gore said the mandatory vaccination policy recognises employees’ right to object to the vaccination and has built in a process to manage this including, where necessary and possible, exemptions and reasonable accommodation of employees taking into account the operational and business requirements of Discovery.
- Inside Politics
