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The Union' s second and third concerns regarding bodily autonomy and financial harm are similar, and have been dealt with in many of the Awards.
Simply put, the Union argues that an employee should not have to be forced to subject himself to a vaccination injection, and should not be subject to being placed on an unpaid leave of absence if he will not take the injection.
The counter argument to this is usually that it is a false argument to submit that the employee is being forced to take an injection.
Rather, it is commonly argued that the employee is not being forced to take an injection, but rather is being required to make a decision: (a) to be vaccinated, or; (b) to not be vaccinated, and to accept the consequences that flow from that decision.
If the employee chooses to be vaccinated, the employee can continue to work.
However, if the employee chooses to not be vaccinated, to protect the health and safety of the other employees, the employee cannot continue to work. Some Arbitrators have
Maple Leaf Foods Inc., Brantford Facility v United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, Local 175, 2022 CanLII 28285 (ON LA): https://canlii.ca/t/jnnjz
[10] To start with, the Union stated that it is not challenging the following two principles. First, that the approved COVID-19 vaccines are generally safe, and that their side effects are generally remote and minor. Second, that the vaccines reduce the spread of COVID-19 and thereby provide some protection to the health and safety of the employees. The parties noted that these principles are confirmed in the scientific literature pertaining to COVID-19.
1. Paragon Protection Ltd. v. UFCW, Local 333 (Nov. 9, 2021, F. R. von Veh)
2. Electrical Safety Assoc. v. Power Workers’ Union (PWU), (Nov. 11, 2021, J. Stout)
3. Ontario Power Generation v. PWU, (Nov. 12, 2021, J. Murray)
4. Bunge Hamilton Canada v. UFCW, 2022 CanLII 43 (Jan. 4, 2022, R. Herman)
5. Maple Leaf Sports v. Teamsters, 2022 CanLII 544 (Jan. 12, 2022, N. Jesin)
6. CKF Inc. v. Teamsters, 2022 CarswellBC 198 (Jan. 28, 2022, K. Saunders)
7. Elexicon Energy Inc. v. PWU, 2022 CanLII 7228 (Feb. 4, 2022, M. Mitchell)
8. Chartwell Housing Reit v. HOPE, 2022 CanLII 6832 (Feb. 7, 2022, G. Misra)
9. Coca-Cola Canada Bottling v. Unifor, 2022 CanLII 20322 (Mar. 17, 2022, M. Wright)
10. Toronto District School Board v. CUPE, 2022 CanLII 22110 (Mar. 22, 2022, W. Kaplan)
11. Extendicare Lynde Creek Retirement Res. v. UFCW, Local 175 (April 4, 2022, S. Raymond)