My name is Andrea Kennedy-Smith and I have worked as a Paralegal for Child Welfare for the last 15 years, and been a very active steward and member leader. I too am concerned about the vaccine mandates from employers.

Our bargaining team met last week over the vaccine mandate and are talking about how to protect people in our union. The meeting was a big reminder to me about how important it is that we have a union. Walmart did a vaccine mandate and they just rolled it out without talking to anyone. But because we have a union we have the right to bargain over it. That means we get a say in the process, and that matters a lot.

I’ve been talking to many members and I know that a lot of you have deeply held beliefs about not getting vaccinated. One thing we can do in bargaining is fight to make sure there is a clear process for you to make the case that you need an exemption. That could allow you to keep your job.

I have to be honest, I’m not happy about this mandate. But it looks like this is going to happen. That means the best place to focus our energy is on bargaining over the impact of the mandate. That’s where we have the power to protect people.

At the end of the day, many people are upset about the mandate including me. A lot of people support it as well. We can all agree on a couple of things. First, we need to exercise our power where we have it at the bargaining table. Second, we don’t want anyone to lose their jobs. Finally, we are way better off with our union than we would be alone. Thanks for reading!