News
As countries around the world continue to battle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic amid the new threat of emerging variants such as Omicron, Canada has reacted to its own growing case load (7% growth in new cases in the last 7 days) by making it a legal requirement for workers in federally-regulated workplaces to be vaccinated.
This follows from the existing Canadian policy that means all federal public sector workers must be vaccinated but now includes workers in sectors listed as federally regulated industries and workplaces by the Canada Labour Code.
Under this new guidance this includes people employed in telecommunications, defined by the code as, telephone, Internet, telegraph and cable systems and so will include the likes of Rogers Communications and TELUS.
This is not the first case of telecom workers being forced to accept COVID vaccinations with Reuters reporting the MTN Group are seeking to mandate vaccination for its employees from January and a wave of other countries now chasing mandatory vaccinations. Last week Biden announced that in the US most federal employees must be vaccinated as well as employees of companies with more than 100 employees who will either have to be vaccinated or face mandatory testing.
The telecoms industry around the world has been central to keeping people connected throughout the pandemic. Next week we will see examples of how this has played out in Asia as we name the winners of this years Asia Communication Awards. View the shortlist here.
