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BL Premium reports that trade union Solidarity has launched a court challenge to mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policies, saying blanket vaccine mandates that did not take into account the unique situation of individual employees or students would be illegal and undesirable.
The union announced on Wednesday that it had served papers on the University of the Free State, which recently introduced a mandatory vaccination policy. It said it planned to launch other court challenges to get clarity on mandatory vaccinations in the workplace. The outcome of the court challenges will be crucial in providing legal guidance on vaccine mandates as the government considers the issue. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced late last year that a task team had been set up to look at mandatory vaccinations and restricting access to public places to people who were not vaccinated. “At the moment, the South African labour market is faced with huge uncertainty regarding whether employers may compel their employees, or even universities their students, to get vaccinated,” said Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann. He added that many employers exploited this uncertainty, and used it as an excuse to lay off employees without following correct procedures. “This situation is exacerbated by our government, which consistently refuses to give clear direction in this regard. Meanwhile, we are seeing employees’ rights and livelihoods being threatened throughout SA. It cannot continue like this. We must obtain legal certainty,” Hermann stated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bekezela Phakathi at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read Solidarity’s press statement regarding this matter at Solidarity News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page