Cosatu now backs mandatory vaccination, but some other unions still averse

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cosatuFin24 reports that trade union federation Cosatu has changed its stance and now supports mandatory Covid-19 vaccination.

On Sunday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that a government task team was looking into making vaccination against the coronavirus compulsory for specific activities and locations. Cosatu, which represents a group of labour unions aligned to the governing party, including unions in the public service, said that although it was initially opposed to forced Covid-19 vaccinations, its stance has changed. "Our position has evolved," spokesperson Sizwe Pamla indicated. Previously, the federation was openly opposed to the idea, as some companies – including Discovery, Old Mutual and Curro – as well as universities, moved to only allow vaccinated individuals on their premises. "Initially our position was 'let's persuade the people to vaccinate'. But the reality is that 2022 will be the third year of living with this deadly pandemic. We do not want another lockdown, we would rather have people forced to vaccinate than have another lockdown," Pamla explained. However, Cosatu’s position is not shared by all unions, including the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which said it would fight tooth and nail to protect its members from the repercussions of resisting the jab, should it become compulsory to inoculate. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said while the jabs worked, it would also not support mandatory vaccination. Solidarity is also against mandatory vaccination. The head of the trade union's research institute, Connie Mulder, said there had cases where employers had already sneaked the practice through the back door and that there was legal ground to challenge such an approach. "We encourage people to vaccinate, but no one should be forced," he indicated.


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