As you’re likely aware by now, McMaster has mandated vaccinations for all those coming onto campus, effective September 7th (except those with a bona fide medical exemption). You can find more here. This is a decision that we support given the obvious health and safety concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present. Some folks on your Union’s leadership team met with representatives from HR on Tuesday to discuss the impacts of this. In particular, we stressed that paid leave for those getting vaccinated or recovering from the side effects of vaccination was vital.

If you cannot get vaccinated due to a protected human rights ground (e.g., you are immunocompromised, or your religion does not permit vaccination), we are happy to help secure you an accommodation for this fall and winter. Continuing to work remotely is one such option. If you require accommodation, we urge you to contact us and your department as soon as possible.

We’ve been informed until people are double-vaccinated, they’ll need to test negative twice weekly. We’re trying to determine the impacts of this on Sessionals, Hourly Rated Sessional Musical Faculty, and TAs who may only be on campus once per week for their work assignment. We’ll provide more details as we get them.

The provincial government currently is providing paid leave for those getting vaccinated. McMaster needs to honour this, but it remains unclear what will happen once this provincial directive ends.

Should you need to quarantine during this semester, please let us know as soon as possible and we’ll work to secure an accomodation. There are also various leave sections in the collective agreements which may apply.