Hot on the heels of this statement, Stopcocks Women Plumbers founder Hattie Hasan MBE, condemned the move as a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ that ‘increases fear’. In a press release she said:
“Many tradespeople we’ve spoken to are unhappy that ’no jab, no job’ requirements invade their civil liberties, and could be disruptive. Will tradespeople refuse to enter households where people haven’t been vaccinated? It could be a slippery slope. Virtually all the tradeswomen we’ve spoken to are very keen to be vaccinated against Covid19 but they’re also unhappy that some bosses are suggesting they ‘must’ receive vaccinations to remain working.”
Asking around the industry, we found Hattie’s position was shared by many, who felt the best move is to place trust in both employees and the customer to collectively adopt and maintain safe working practices. As Viessman marketing director, Darren McMahon stated:
“Viessmann and its key worker employees have been supporting customers throughout the pandemic using Covid-secure practices and we believe, for the coming weeks and months, focussing on this approach is a safe and robust strategy as we hopefully come out of the Covid pandemic and continue as a society to learn more about it. We are confident that the contract of trust and adherence to safety measures between engineer and property owner has dramatically reduced potential virus transmission and we will continue to uphold these standards.”
As many of you are frontline workers, we also put it to a vote in our online poll and the results came back with 73% of you voting against a no jab, no job policy.
It remains to be seen as to whether such policies are adopted or are even legally enforceable but, for now, the best approach, and the one favoured by the majority, lies in mutual respect and safe working practices.