Anti-vax resistance greets new construction site jab rules
Tensions are rising over the NSW government’s snap edict that construction workers living in Sydney’ eight locked down local government areas and parts of Penrith must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to work.
The new rules, endorsed by major developers and industry groups, are an attempt to kickstart Sydney’s staff-starved construction industry, which will also be forced to operate sites at a maximum of 50 per cent capacity.
Vaccinations are not required for construction workers who live in any other part of Sydney, sparking allegations of discrimination and intimidation from western Sydney state Liberal MP Tanya Davies.
“Workers in western Sydney are being forced into vaccinations for fear of not being able to provide for their families,” Ms Davies said.
“The policy of ‘no jab, no job’ is an attack on my community and the people of NSW.
“No citizen should be forced or coerced into having any medical treatment or procedure for fear of being discriminated against.”
Members of the powerful Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union are also strongly pushing back.
A post containing the NSW government media release on the new rules attracted more than 200 mostly negative comments.
CFMEU state secretary Darren Greenfield said the union lobbied against taking this approach.
“We have argued that it shouldn’t be mandatory, it should be a choice of the individual,” Mr Greenfield said.
“But unfortunately, the CFMEU doesn’t write the laws of this land, the governments do.”
A director of formwork contractor Leading Edge Group, who did not want to be named, said most of his nine employees live in the impacted LGAs and that their absence has badly hurt business.
However, he has mixed feelings about the vaccination policy, and so do his staff.
“The men are reluctant at this stage,” he said. “These people, they work hard. They just want to make a living, they don’t want to be on the public purse.
“At the end of the day there’s no harm in putting all these proposals on the table, but ultimately it’s up to the individual – I can encourage it but I can’t mandate it.”
Major builders such as Built, Billbergia and John Holland have endorsed the NSW government changes, and are preparing the required infrastructure and procedures such as COVID-19 testing stations.
Conor McBrien, senior manager on Billbergia’s high-rise construction site at 88 Walker Street, North Sydney, said it was a step in the right direction.
“It creates a certainty that you can work to, even though we’ll be working at 50 per cent capacity,” he said. “It’s about optimising that capacity.”
Brett Mason, chief executive of Built, said: “We’re now in planning mode to make sure we can open safely and do all the right things.
“We’re appreciative of the way that the industry and unions have worked with the state government to find a path forward to a partial reopening.
“We expect that getting to that 50 per cent mark on the projects will allow us and most of our subcontractors to get to a break-even position and keep people employed.
“The way it was going we were facing significant insolvencies in the industry.”
The chief executive of John Holland, Joe Barr, said it had been trialling rapid antigen testing at several sites in preparation for Wednesday’s rollout.
“They’ve been pretty good. The workforce has received them well,” Mr Barr said.
“We tested 250 people on one of our sites and there were no positives, but if we did find a positive we have systems and protocols to deal with that.”
