Unvaccinated ambulance workers in Victoria, including over two dozen paramedics, were recently notified that their employment with Ambulance Victoria would end soon. Ambulance Victoria is the main state agency responsible for handling ambulance services and pre-hospital emergency care.
According to the state's vaccine mandate, all Ambulance Victoria employees were required to receive the first dose of the experimental and dangerous COVID-19 vaccine back in October.
The following month, those who remained unvaccinated were required to explain why they did not comply with the mandate. Employees who remained adamant in their refusal were then forced into taking leaves and asked to "consider their future positions."
"Having carefully considered all individual circumstances, unvaccinated staff have been notified that their employment with Ambulance Victoria will end, including 25 paramedics," said one spokeswoman for Ambulance Victoria.
Only six of the service's more than 4,000 employees have been given exemptions to the vaccine mandate. (Related: Christian pastor warns that Victoria's COVID-19 rules and vaccine mandate are leading it "down the path of dictatorship.")
Fired unvaccinated staffers want the court to force Ambulance Victoria to hire them back
At least two dozen workers of Ambulance Victoria have filed a case in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) against their employer. The FWC is the main Australian body that handles disputes between laborers and their employers.
According to the Ambulance Victoria workers, their termination went beyond the state's vaccine mandate policy. In a statement, lawyers for the staffers said that at least 29 people have either been forced to resign or "coerced into compliance" to keep their jobs.
"We were called heroes last year," said paramedic Jessica Davis. "This year we're accused of serious misconduct and our employment is terminated." Davis added that she believes her employer has overstepped its authority as, according to Victoria Chief Health Officer (CHO) Dr. Brett Sutton, vaccine mandates do not require all unvaccinated employees to comply.
"Staff that have been working from home for the last 18 months are now fired because [Ambulance Victoria] states they must be able to enter workplace premises," said Davis. "This goes beyond the CHO's directions."
So far, Ambulance Victoria has fired at least 23 of its employees. According to Davis, dozens more unvaccinated workers are scheduled to meet with their bosses one last time, where they will presumably be coerced into taking the experimental and dangerous vaccine or be fired on the spot.
Davis said that she and many of her unvaccinated peers have been degraded or mocked when they tried to reach out for support to retain their positions at Ambulance Victoria.
Benedict Coyne, one of the lawyers representing Davis and her unvaccinated fellows, has requested an interim order preventing any changes to their employment status ahead of a conciliation meeting with Ambulance Victoria executives. If this meeting fails, Coyne wants the interim order to remain in place until arbitration talks with either the FWC or another government authority.
Coyne and the other lawyers have released a statement clarifying that they are not anti-vaccination and that their opposition to the mandates is based on the desire to uphold health freedom.
"Several members of the group felt coerced into having a first dose and are prepared to get a second dose but want to wait until a proven safe vaccine becomes available such as Novavax and COVAX," read the group's statement.
The group added that many of the recently fired employees are refusing to be vaccinated due to medical or religious grounds, but they were not provided exemptions to the vaccine mandate. All the fired employees have offered to abide by strict PPE rules and screening occupancy limits as well as other means of ensuring the safety of others without vaccination.
Jack Tracey, a lawyer working for Ambulance Victoria, said he does not believe conciliation talks or arbitration talks with the FWC will achieve anything, given the very pro-vaccine stance of Victoria's leaders.
FWC Deputy President Amanda Mansini is expected to meet with the petitioners by early next week.
Learn more about how Australia's COVID-19 vaccine mandate policies are hurting the employment status of thousands of Australians by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.
Sources include:
Please contact us for more information.
