CTUSAB head not in favour of vaccine incentives

THE idea of providing incentives for Barbadians to take the COVID-19 vaccine is not sitting well with General Secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB), Dennis de Peiza.

He made his feelings known as the topic of “Jabs for Jobs” came up for discussion, as the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) explored the legality of imposing the COVID-19 vaccine as a prerequisite for employment, during an online webinar held as part of the HRMAB’s Week of Activities. The topic of incentivising people to get vaccinated surfaced during the discussion, given that in other jurisdictions, citizens have been offered cash and even food as encouragement to take the jab.

When the question was posed about incentivising the jab, one of the panelists for the web-inar, Attorney-at-Law Kamisha Benjamin stated, “I think that anything that can get persons to assist in getting the herd immunity, should be praised and highly looked at. So if it is that people will require incentives to get us out of the stage that we are currently in, the pandemic, and to get us back to  a state of normalcy, I have no difficulties with, so I have no difficulties with incentives in these circumstances.”

However, de Peiza remarked, “I think it is ludicrous and irresponsible to be offering workers any type of monetary inducements. Any type of inducement in my view is not suggesting that we are serious, because as I said earlier, you have to take responsibility for your actions and if we are having a crisis, we have to understand there are two things that are at stake here. There are lives at stake and there are livelihoods at stake.”

“We have to survive and we have to make hard decisions. I do not believe that should be a unilateral decision, but we have got to find some common ground and decency in how we move forward,” the CTUSAB head asserted.

Stressing that some workplaces require workers to have a health certificate or some other standard they have to meet, he noted that if part of the standards for the working environment going forward is that there be a “COVID-free environment”, then it means that people who work in it must be COVID-free or have some protection against the virus. And therefore, workers may have two options – either be tested or be immunized.

He however wrapped up by stating that it’s a choice and in the Constitution, there are grounds for persons to refuse the vaccine on medical or religious grounds, though there may need to be some regulation in terms of these aspects. (RSM)