The new rules have prompted fewer job losses than expected, with workers rolling up their sleeves and getting immunised, reports Jean Bell
Fletcher Building’s blanket staff vaccine mandate kicked into force this week, with almost all staff opting to get the jab.
The policy announced late last year meant all 9000 staff, regardless of where they worked in the company, were required to be double-dosed by February 15 to continue work.
At the time, chief executive Ross Taylor said the stance received strong support from workers in the company, with widespread consultation indicating employees backed the move.
Northern Amalgamated Workers Union secretary Maurice Davis worked with about 400 union members who held roles in the company's building products and construction arms in the Auckland region.
To his knowledge, between 20 and 25 of those workers had turned down the jab and would lose their jobs. Reports from other union representatives in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato had reported similar rates.
This was considerably lower than the number of staff first expected to leave due to the mandate, as workers who were initially adamant they would not get vaccinated had changed their minds, Davis said.
“Some of them are doing it for religious reasons, others are doing it for personal reasons,” he said.
While more manufacturing and construction workers might lose their jobs, Davis said operations would not be crippled by hundreds of people downing their tools.
"It's growing but it's not as big as people make it out to be."
Fletcher Building is not the only company to enforce a blanket mandate. The Warehouse Group required all staff to be vaccinated by January 16 this year, while Fonterra will require vaccination by April 1.
Davis had heard of only one employee at Fletchers granted a temporary exemption for health reasons.
Though one worker with three decades of service was among those who would leave, the vaccine mandate enjoyed support from workers, Davis said.
Vaccinated staff did not want to work with unvaccinated colleagues, and risk bringing the virus home to their families.
First Union organiser Justin Wallace said most of the construction workers he represented were taking up the jab, some purely to keep their job.
Wallace said the number of workers affected by the Fletchers mandate would not be clear until it came into force. Neither was it yet clear whether it would be applied immediately to staff who had received only one dose so far, or just those refusing to get jabbed at all.
New Zealand Building Industry Federation chief executive Julien Leys commended Fletcher Building for applying the mandate.
He said the company had a large workforce and played a vital role in the construction industry by manufacturing goods, such as Gib board and Pink Batts, that were essential for building homes.
A Fletcher Building spokesperson said the vast majority of staff had supported the policy and were fully vaccinated.
“At this stage in the pandemic, we are confident in the approach we have taken to protect our people and the broader community.”
The company will announce its half-year financial results on February 16.
