Test one, test all

Fully vaccinated and unvaccinated workers should be tested with the same frequency.

That is the view of General Secretary of the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU) Senator Caswell Franklyn, who has objected to the stance being taken by the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) to require unvaccinated workers in that sector to subject themselves to regular COVID-19 testing.

The BHTA has indicated that regular testing will not be required for employees who are fully vaccinated and provide proof of approved courses of vaccines.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY Senator Franklyn said it was well documented that vaccinated and unvaccinated persons could contract and spread COVID-19.

He pointed to a recent COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts, USA, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had determined that 74 per cent of the people infected had been fully vaccinated.

“I have a serious issue with it. If you are vaccinated you can still contract and pass the virus so that means that everybody, unvaccinated or not, should be tested regularly. The article I read recently reported that 74 per cent of people who were infected with COVID were vaccinated people, so if that is not enough evidence for people that the vaccine is not working then I don’t know what is,” the outspoken trade unionist declared.

“I find that our people, without understanding what is happening or without using their common sense because they hear somebody rush off with it, they rush off with it too.”

Franklyn said all that was required for a safe workplace environment was for the basic protocols to be followed.

He said he saw no reason why unvaccinated persons could not receive temperature checks as is the norm for persons to enter places of business.

“All you have to do is to make sure that their temperature is not elevated and they sanitize themselves and that is what has been happening all along. What is new about that? So why do you need me to be tested at all because if I come to work and my temperature is elevated you aren’t going to let me come in. And if you feel like taking my temperature at 12 o’ clock in the day when I go to lunch and come back it is up to you, but I don’t know why you want to have some invasive test, sticking something up people’s nose to test them for something that is not even relevant,” Franklyn questioned.

He said there were also concerns related to the accuracy of PCR tests.

Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), Wayne Walrond told Barbados TODAY while he understood the BHTA was under pressure, having fully vaccinated workers did not necessarily equate to a safe workplace.

He questioned whether employers would be able to assure their employees that they would not contract COVID-19 in the workplace once they were fully vaccinated.

“One must ask the question that if the employers are saying that a safe place of work would be if every person is vaccinated, are the employers prepared to draft up an agreement saying to workers that if their company is 100 per cent vaccinated they will accept liability if that worker contracts COVID. Is the private sector prepared to do that?” Walrond asked.

He maintained that workers would be “under stress and a level of pressure” if they had to be tested regularly even if they did not have to pay for the tests.

Efforts to reach General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Toni Moore proved unsuccessful. (RB)