Employees of the network have been asked whether vaccinations should be mandatory for staff
A survey sent out to staff this week by Channel 7 has left some staff fearful they will not be able to work for the free-to-air network unless they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The e-mail, sent out on Wednesday, says:
As the COVID Delta strain gathers momentum, talk is turning to whether or not vaccination should be mandatory for staff. You may have heard that both Qantas and SPC (a food processing business) recently directed their employees to be vaccinated.
However, before Seven makes a decision, we want to understand your views. To obtain your input, we have designed a brief survey which you can access here. It is confidential and should take no longer than 30 seconds to respond. We will keep the link open till COB on Friday and of course share the results with you all next week.
It is our absolute priority to maintain the health and safety of our people. Completing this survey will assist us greatly in continuing to provide a safe workplace.
Currently, workers on various productions are tested three times per week, but staff who reached out to TV Blackbox fear they will lose work if they choose not to be vaccinated.
A spokesperson for Seven says no decision has been made and the survey is designed to make an informed decision based on the feedback:
“We are NOT proposing mandatory vaccines. We’re gathering the views of our staff, which is the fair and responsible thing to do,
While mandatory vaccines have not yet been proposed, the feedback from the survey will determine whether this becomes company policy.
Seven also says the results of the survey, which closes at COB today, will be shared with everyone:
“Whatever happens from there will be in consultation with our staff.Â
“The health and safety of our staff is our #1 priority at all times.”
The survey is very simple and takes just 30 seconds to complete.
TV productions are still allowed to continue as they are classified as ‘essential services’, but a COVID-19 outbreak within any production would lead to significant delays.
But some freelance workers, who are not yet sold on the vaccines, feel they are being pushed into a corner if having the jab becomes a requirement of employment.
We are in strange times and there is certainly no easy answer.
