Brothers and Sisters,
This past year has been long and difficult, and I know that you are as eager as I am for an end to the pandemic and to the changes we have had to make to protect our health and safety and the health and safety of our members and loved ones.
The vaccine rollout has given us hope that the end is within reach. But to win the fight against this virus we must make sure that as many of our members as possible are vaccinated and that we continue to observe safety precautions such as mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing.
Last week, the CWA Executive Board approved a COVID-19 Vaccine Position statement. The statement supports:
- Vaccination to protect against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease.
- Voluntary vaccination programs and opposes mandatory vaccination as a condition of employment.
- Employees being able to get vaccinated without fear of lost wages, PTO or other bargained leave.
- Employers bargaining in good faith all conditions of workplace vaccine-related policies and procedures.
- Equitable and fair vaccine distribution.
- Employers providing appropriate personal protective equipment to employees and implementing comprehensive workplace protections and mitigation strategies.
You can read the full statement at cwa.org/cwa-executive-board-covid-19-vaccine-position-statement.
I strongly encourage every CWA Local to reach out to their members about the importance of getting vaccinated. We have created a sample letter that you can send to your members and we will be sharing additional resources including a workplace flyer and social media content over the next few weeks. You may download the letter from cwa.org/vaccine-letter.
Please also encourage your members to take our COVID-19 Vaccination Survey. We want to know what our members think about getting vaccinated so we can make sure we provide them with relevant information. The survey will also be used to identify members who have been vaccinated who are interested in working with CWA to encourage other members to get vaccinated. The survey is for all members whether they have had a vaccination, plan on getting a vaccination, or do not want to get a vaccination. The link to the survey is cwa.org/vaccine-survey.
If you have any questions about the resources, COVID-19 workplace protections, or vaccines, please contact your District, Sector or Division.
In Unity,
Christopher M. Shelton
President