Union on Exclusion of the Unvaccinated: State Solves Problems by Putting Responsibility on Workers’ Shoulders

Suggests entrusting responsibility not to employers but to politicians

Andrius Romanovskis, the head of the Business Confederation, responded to the prime minister’s offer to fire employees when they are not vaccinated, when there are no medical obstacles, in daily Delfi TV interviews.

“I would like to make it clear that exclusion is not dismissal. Dismissal is only a temporary removal from office, of course, by suspension and payment of salary, but it is not a dismissal. I would say that in this case, the Prime Minister has shown clear leadership in what is probably a large part of society and business and hopes that politicians will finally say how a pandemic should be handled in the workplace. On the other hand, it can be a bit worrisome that the responsibility falls on the employer, as the employer will have to decide whether or not to remove the employee.

And the situation in the labor market is particularly tense and the needs of employees are special, so if an employer wants to influence your decision to get vaccinated or not because otherwise you will be fired, the problem here is that perhaps another employer will not postulate. such strict requirements. Therefore, in our opinion, there should be an answer to which professions need immunization. It should be a kind of political message and a decision that we will support, ”says Romanovskis.

According to him, the responsibility for the decision should not lie with employers but with politicians.

“The demand in the labor market, and not only in the transport market, is enormous in commerce. “Employers are looking for employees, so we would say that there should be a common decision when the main responsibility falls on those who represent the population, that is, politicians,” says A. Romanovskis.

Ruginiene: this is unequivocally bad

According to Inga Ruginienė, president of the Trade Union Confederation, such a decision is completely incomprehensible.

“It just came to our attention then. Each coercion has its own response. Here we will have several negative results, first of all, it is a completely incomprehensible and unnecessary sowing of anger and anxiety among the employees, although, looking at the numbers, the level of immunization in Lithuania it is quite good. All sectors that have more contact with people, are already vaccinated at sixty percent and more. I do not know what occupational exclusions we can talk about, because this is only the beginning. I have no doubt that those Numbers will increase in the fall. The next thing you will answer is the number of employees. Employers, by supporting such an offer, will actually be faced with a situation where one day there will simply be no more employees.

Another thing that is very important to bear in mind is that, unfortunately, not all employers are vaccinated, and who will take them out of work, or if we are not facing a situation in which double standards are applied, as always, so that the State solve the responsibility of the load on the shoulders of employees. We see it with success. Instead of using those measures that would be effective in promoting vaccination, employers will nowhere support such an offer; Let’s put everything in the hands of the working poor, ”says I. Ruginienė.

According to her, it is not good to treat this decision in such a way that it is just an exclusion, taking into account that then a person loses income.

“Why are we talking about radical measures today, when there are absolutely no preconditions for that? Instead of taking advantage of opportunities that have not yet been exploited, it is complete nonsense to restrict various vital activities, and work is a vital function, and to consider the exclusion as a non-complete layoff is complete nonsense. This is a situation where a person is left completely without income. How much will a person be retired from work? After all, what term are we talking about? Because non-vaccination here is not a temporary process, we equate it with the loss of employment and say that the government invades vital functions, that is, work, while others remain food and pharmacies. Perhaps the next step will be a restriction on products food ”, says I. Ruginienė.

Test problem

Mindaugas Sinkevičius, president of the Association of Municipalities, spoke about the situation in different municipalities.

“Probably the fact that the vaccination capacity varied throughout the pandemic, the testing capacity also varied. Naturally, somewhere you have to wait, apparently that capacity is not enough, and in some queues even during the day you do not look for an opportunity to register for the test that opportunity is guaranteed. It is clear that we are looking more closely at September, a period in which the objective will be for students to return to classes, to undergo contact education ”, says the interlocutor.

“Apparently, it will be necessary to intensify the testing capacity in the fall, perhaps due to the reduction in vaccination volumes, and perhaps we will be able to vaccinate a significant number of people during the summer,” he added.

Romanowski says the testing problem is really big.

“I know testing is challenging for some, especially big teams. I spoke with the director of a very large company today and they have more than a thousand employees who must be tested because some are not vaccinated, in some regions you even have to wait a few weeks, what to do with employers then because the employer has to evaluate their money, because it is the employer’s duty to have people in the workplace who are vaccinated or tested, ”says A. Romanovskis.

Sinkevičius: we have two crises at the same time

According to M. Sinkevičius, the forecasts for the autumn are not yet comforting. The interlocutor also spoke about local measures that could be introduced in specific municipalities and not in the whole of Lithuania.

“We can only sadly say that we have two front fronts. One is in the West, it is the spread of covidium. Naturally, Lithuania started to blush for Klaipeda and Samogitia. And the other is in the East, I mean those who cross the border. illegally. We are fighting on two fronts, we have two crises and unpleasant situations at the same time. Naturally, there would be a wish that until the virus spreads and Lithuania does not turn red again, at least on the current map we see that Samogitia is red , it would be nice to have it more localized, without trying to create rules or requirements.For quarantine or disciplinary movement, it is better to start, and if that spread does not stop, move closer to all of Lithuania.

Looking at those municipalities where there is a high level of vaccination that is green and its level of immunization is high, it would probably not be appropriate to penalize that the situation is different somewhere a hundred kilometers away. It is necessary to try to look at least at the beginning in region X, in municipality X, and not for the whole of Lithuania at once, but by regions ”, says M. Sinkevičius.

The situation may get worse

When asked if it is possible that we will have even higher numbers very soon and the list of red municipalities will be expanded, the interviewee assured that, unfortunately, this may be the case.

“Unfortunately, but probably because of the way we talk to our colleagues, we all regret that we turn red in the fall, and it is probably inevitable, even though we are doing everything we can.” Vaccination rates have slowed down, but every effort is being made, we even go to masses by bus and we also go to employers. We drive on vacation in the city, even creatively we are tired of convincing people to get vaccinated.

We see the numbers grow and we worry that the autumn situation will not happen again. And the self-government is doing everything possible to prevent this from happening, but this is not the case when we can repel the pandemic with our own effort, because it seems that some compatriots had a good rest by the sea and until now everything started from the seaside, but “, says M. Sinkevičius.