GM Canada announced this week that it would drop its COVID-19 vaccine requirement for its employees as of Sunday, June 26th, 2022.
According to The Detroit News, GM Canada’s decision to drop its vaccination requirement comes days after Stellantis decided to drop a similar mandate for Canadian employees. Stellantis was forced to drop the vaccination requirement after an Ontario arbitrator deemed the policy “no longer reasonable,” due to the vaccine’s waning efficacy against the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The arbitrator, Marilyn Nairn, also said there is a “negligible difference in the risk of transmission in respect of Omicron as between a two-dose vaccine regimen and remaining unvaccinated,” at the moment.
While GM Canada and Stellantis have dropped their vaccination requirements, Ford employees are still required to have at least two doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine. The automaker’s Canadian arm recently extended the expiration date of its vaccination policy from May 2nd to July 4th, as well.
GM Canada implemented its vaccination requirement for all employees and visitors on December 12th, 2021. The automaker placed a number of employees on unpaid leave that did not get vaccinated, with these employees later facing termination if they did not receive a valid vaccination regimen. GM Canada’s vaccine mandate stirred controversy within the labor union, as many workers expressed frustration that GM did not have the same rules in place for its U.S. facilities. GM Canada was the automaker’s only global operation to require vaccination against COVID-19 for its employees.
GM Canada dropped its facemask mandate back in March after the province of Ontario removed the majority of its rules for required masking. GM Canada’s largest facility is the Oshawa Assembly plant in Ontario, which employs roughly 1,800 people building the Chevy Silverado and Silverado HD pickups. Other GM Canada facilities include CAMI Assembly in Ingersoll, Ont. and St. Catharines Propulsion in nearby St. Catharines, Ont.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM-related COVID-19 news, GM employment news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
This is the right decision and long overdue.
They should have never made it mandatory in the 1st place.
Papers please
Of course they are since the lying old man joe Biden tried saying you can’t get covid if you get the vaccine, the mask never worked either at least the cdc finally admitted it. Now all the cowards on here can’t say anything anymore.
Unifor is weak for allowing this and agreeing to work Saturdays for straight time. Bunch of sellouts.
It was all a scam from the start@!
Vaccine requirement to go to work? I thought that was only for healthcare workers. Oh, I almost forgot I live in a free red state.
Who probably banned abortions! That’s hillbilly freedom for you!
“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
One I believe, I did not vote for this piece of sh****t !
Trudeau will be out in the next elections !
And by the way, people can believe what they want … it is freedom !
Of course you can. If its on the internet it must be true! Good luck voting for the Conservatives. They will ruin the country like they did with Harper.
Poor man… he thinks Harper ruined Canada hahahahaha!
Such a pity
Poor kid. He thinks Trudeau ruined Canada hahahahaha
Such a pity. You must like CACA and the dictator.
Continue to vote Liberal and say goodbye to your freedom !
I’ve been free for years.
You have no idea what freedom is. Were you one who was making trouble in Ottawa? I wouldn’t be surprised.
The ones in Ottawa, the truckers, they are heros.
I’ll keep my energy and will not waste my time with an idiot like you.