August 10, 2021
The Mount Allison Faculty Association believes that all members of the university community should be strongly encouraged to vaccinate for personal and community protection, even in the absence of public health regulations or government orders mandating vaccines. Nevertheless, for a variety of reasons some members of our community cannot or will not be vaccinated for COVID-19.
Vaccination is part of the tool kit that will help keep our community safe in what we hope are the late stages of this pandemic. Some of these tools are for individuals, such as vaccination and continuing to distance physically as well as wearing a mask or other personal protective equipment when appropriate. But some measures are for the employer, such as ensuring that enclosed spaces like labs and classrooms meet ventilation standards and that this is done in a transparent fashion. MAFA expects that the Employer’s future plans should be worked out in consultation with faculty through the representative body that exists for this purpose—the Joint Health and Safety Committee.
However, the core role of MAFA is to defend our members’ rights under the collective agreement. Whether or not the employer mandates vaccination, MAFA will work with members to ensure that they are accommodated in their particular situations, and to defend their rights under our collective agreements. If mandatory vaccination is implemented, it must be done by balancing health and safety legislation requirements (that employers take every reasonable precaution to protect employees) with the privacy and human rights provisions of relevant New Brunswick legislation.