Far fewer workers fired for not complying with vaccine mandate than feared

Thursday, 20 January 2022

Michael Wood outlines the Government's new sweeping vaccine mandate for employees where vaccine certificates are required. (Video first published in October 2021)

The number of private-sector job losses resulting from employees refusing to get vaccinated was much lower than expected, unions suggest.

Unite Union national secretary John Crocker said early surveys conducted by a number of companies in affected industries before the vaccine mandate came into effect suggested as much as 10 per cent of the workforce would refuse the jab.

In the end, only about 1 to 2 per cent of union members in the hospitality workforce refused to comply with the mandate, Crocker said.

At larger fast food companies and cinemas the number was slightly higher, with 3 to 4 per cent of members affected by the mandate losing their jobs over vaccine refusal.

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Fleur Sullivan has been forced to shut her popular restaurant in Moeraki because half the workforce wasn’t vaccinated.

McDonald’s spokesman Simon Kenny confirmed job losses were low, saying while some staff did leave due to the vaccine requirements, the final number per restaurant was relatively small, and the number of staff who left and were hired in December was similar to the trend over previous months.

The vaccine mandate covered a number of high-risk and high-contact jobs, including those working in managed isolation and quarantine facilities (MIQs), the health and disability sector, education, hospitality, events, gyms and hairdressers.

Most private sector workers had to be fully vaccinated by January 17.

Crocker said the relatively low numbers refusing jabs came as a relief.

“Initial hesitation was worrying companies when it looked like up to 10 per cent from initial surveys, but that came down considerably as the day of reckoning approached,” Crocker said.

Chris White, Southern Cross’ interim chief executive, says there has been no service disruption due to vaccine mandates.

“We didn't notice any particular disruption to service at these levels. Hospitality companies run pretty close to minimum normally, but there are often workers available to pick up additional shifts.”

Although the high-level outlook seemed positive, some businesses have been severely affected by the mandate, including celebrated Moeraki restaurant, Fleur’s Place, which closed indefinitely after half its staff refused to get vaccinated.

Getting a gauge on how the vaccine mandate affected private-sector job losses is difficult, with neither Statistics New Zealand, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, or the Ministry of Health monitoring losses.

Stats NZ said when the result of the new labour market statistics were released on February 2, it may be possible to see if job numbers had changed.

Crocker said he had heard from other unions in the health and education sectors, and they too saw about 1 to 2 per cent of their mandate-affected workforce refusing the jab.

Private healthcare largely unaffected by mandate

The vaccines, administered as boosters, had expired while in storage. (File photo)

This was certainly the experience at the country’s largest independent private healthcare network, Southern Cross Healthcare.

Chris White, Southern Cross interim chief executive, said across the company’s network and 3000-plus employees, only 65 people had their jobs affected by refusing to get the jab.

That included 25 nurses from the company’s hospitals.

“In order to keep our employees, medical specialists, patients and visitors safe, Southern Cross Healthcare fully supports the vaccine mandate,” White said.

“Our overall approach with employees who chose not to comply with the mandate, and who have now left their jobs at Southern Cross Healthcare, has been one of empathy, and we were disappointed to see those valued employees leave.

“In most cases the team member was making the very difficult choice to end their vocation as a healthcare worker.”

White said the losses had not caused any marked disruption, and there has been no impact to the quality of care or level of service.

A spokeswoman for MercyAscot, which has three private hospitals and clinics in Auckland, said the company had exceptional uptake of the vaccine among its workforce.

Unite had received some calls from angry workers demanding action against the mandate, but Crocker said court rulings to-date had found the law to be valid and the union’s stance was those who refused to get the jab had little recourse.

“The case law has largely fallen against the workers and at our 2021 AGM a motion was carried in favour of required vaccination at the workplace.”

He said most who lost their jobs over a refusal to be vaccinated were entitled to four weeks paid leave as their notice period.

Job losses appear to be minimal in the aviation sector as well.

E tū head of aviation, Savage, said in aviation about 20 members either took leave without pay, resigned, or were dismissed as a result of the mandate, or their employer’s mandate.

They came from various parts of the industry, but were predominantly airport workers, cabin crew, and aircraft engineers.

E tū was not able to provide figures for the care and disability or aged care sectors, but said all were struggling with staffing shortages regardless of the mandate.

E tū and Unite said job losses from MIQs were minimal.