- Conference
- 2022 Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 15 February 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference welcomes the UK government’s U-turn on mandatory vaccinations, and condemns the government for creating the problem in the first place. Conference welcomes UNISON’s role in contributing to the government’s change in policy.
Conference opposes any further push to extend mandatory vaccination into social care services in England. UNISON is strongly supportive of the vaccination programme as a means of tackling coronavirus and making social care settings safer. But UNISON believes this should be implemented by boosting trust and confidence in vaccination and through adopting our approach of persuasion and not coercion. The responsible approach is to provide the reliable information from trusted sources.
Forcing the vaccination on care workers has had, and continues to have, three devastating impacts:
1)It has undermined the roll out of vaccination by undermining trust, becoming a huge distraction from the task of boosting confidence in the vaccination programme;
2)Tragically, thousands of care workers have walked away from the sector, losing their skill and experience, when they could have stayed and been persuaded to take the vaccine. This impact has been particularly devastating for Black care workers;
3)Most damaging of all, it has made acute staffing shortages even worse, seriously damaging the quality of care given to care recipients.
A UNISON survey of more than 4000 care workers published in 2021 provided clear evidence this would happen. UNISON repeatedly warned the government of these impacts, in the media, in meetings with the Department of Health and Social Care and in writing. UNISON was joined in opposing the move by many local authorities and social care employer groups.
Conference applauds the huge amount of work done by UNISON branches and regions to support those care workers and the wider social care workforce, such as adult social workers in England, who needed our assistance regarding mandatory vaccination. The union has received many requests for support from social care members and the union has done everything possible to support those members. The national union has provided detailed guidance, briefings and support and represented members’ views on a subject which has received significant national media attention.
Conference calls on the Service Group Executive to:
a)Campaign for the reinstatement of any members in the Service Group who were dismissed as a result of mandatory vaccination regulations;
b)Continue to argue against mandatory vaccination and to support members, with a particular focus on protecting continued employment wherever this is possible;
c)At the appropriate time, provide detailed evidence to a public inquiry on the devastatingly negative impact of mandatory vaccination on social care;
d)Provide advice and guidance for branches to help them convince local councils not to adopt punitive mandatory vaccination policies for their wider social care workforce;
e)Resist any moves to reintroduce or extend mandatory vaccination to children’s social care or other local government run or commissioned service areas;
f)Work closely with other service groups on overlapping campaigns regarding mandatory vaccination;
g)Resist any moves to introduce mandatory vaccination for social care workers in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland;
h)Through Labour Link, campaign for the Labour Party to strengthen its position and oppose mandatory vaccination.