And while that new legislation will protect consumers, he's hoping the latest COVID protocols will protect…well, everyone. Starting December 15th, government workers will be required to be vaccinated to go into work, otherwise they will be marked as absent and dealt with disciplinarily. The PSU is fighting against this mandate, but today the PM said the government's choice will save lives.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well we're giving you a choice. It is important for us to be able to protect our customers and to protect ourselves. In many businesses, when somebody gets sick and the government is not different, that many instances people go to a government office and they can't get any service because you have five, six, ten people at home because of COVID. And we're trying to find a way how best we can keep the government service working. And we're finding out that more and more people in the business community are following suit. They're starting to tell their employees that they also need to get vaccinated because then it costs the business when they have to close down or when they cannot provide the service that is required of them. So we're trying to find ways on how to keep the government open, to keep businesses open and to provide a service that people need and deserve."
Courtney Menzies:
"The PSU calls it low key retrenchment, though."
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"That's their right to call it anything. We know that we are doing what is right. We're doing it for the right reasons. We want to try to protect our employees, which are the public officers and also our customers, which are the voters of this country."
