Kas Baker started working at the City of Prince George in July 2017 and hoped to stay until he retired – but now he has no plan of going back.
Baker worked as an irrigation technician in the summer, and drove plows and vacuum trucks in the winter. Then, on Nov. 10, 2021, the city launched its Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Program.
“I was happy at the city,” he said. “I’m not against vaccines. I’ve got my small pox… and other proven vaccines. (But) it didn’t sit well with me. I just wasn’t interested in getting that vaccine.”
Baker didn’t get vaccinated against COVID-19, and was placed on an unpaid leave of absence on Jan. 14, 2022, and faced termination on Jan. 15, 2023 if he did not get vaccinated and return to work.
He said many of his family members didn’t get vaccinated either, or later regretted doing so.
“To be told ‘do this or you don’t have a job.’ That is so wrong on so many levels,” Baker said. “I know a lot of people who were against it, but got it for fear of losing their jobs.”
Going on unpaid leave affected him and his family “financially, emotionally, mentally and physically,” he said. He was left feeling “bitter and angry” and took part in the Freedom Convoy to Ottawa.
“(But), I’m actually grateful, now. It forced me to expand my wings and look at different options,” Baker said.
Baker started his own business, and after a slow start, he is now earning a better living than he did at the city.
“I have more freedom, I’m my own boss. I feel like I’ve spread my wings and I’m just soaring like an eagle,” Baker said. “The thought of going back to the city… literally makes me feel like they’d clip my wings and shove me in a pigeonhole. There is just no reason for me to go back.”
'TRUST HAS BEEN BROKEN'
In an interview with the Citizen days before the city suspended the Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Program on Jan. 13, Mayor Simon Yu said a total of 16 unvaccinated city employees were still on unpaid leave as of January.
A city employee provided the Citizen with a copy of the settlement agreement offered to unvaccinated employees, negotiated between the City of Prince George and CUPE Locals 399 and 1048.
Under the agreement, employees can remain on unpaid leave for an additional year, up to Jan. 15, 2024, and will retain recall rights as if they had been laid off.
“If impacted employees’ original positions are available at the time of agreement of these settlement terms, those employees shall be recalled to their original position. In the event that an impacted employee’s original position isn’t immediately available the employee will be recalled to work which they are capable of performing in the order of bargaining-unit wide seniority,” the agreement says. “Should an impacted employee’s original position become available at a future date while they remain an employee of the City, they will have a right of recall to that position unless they fail to respond to the notification…”
Employees were given until Jan. 27, to notify the city of their desire to be recalled.
“Impacted employees who do not wish to return to active employment or who remain on leave and otherwise terminate employment with the Employer, will receive payout of 50% of their accumulated sick days. This clause shall not apply if the employee is terminated for cause,” the agreement says.
The agreement is a final settlement of all grievances related to the Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Program, the agreement says. A clause of the agreement also says that if they city brings back the mandatory vaccine program, it will provide the union with a month’s notice “for the purpose of minimizing impacts of such policy or procedure on employees.”
Baker said he didn’t feel his union representatives consulted him or his fellow unvaccinated employees before agreeing to the terms of the settlement.
“One of the main reasons I’m not going back to the city is that trust has been broken. It’s unfair, there is no justice,” he said. “When I think of the other workers… if I could afford to hire every one of them, and pay them well as they deserve, I would. I’m proud to be one of the few.”
‘THE WRONGS HAVE NOT BEEN MADE RIGHT’
A second unvaccinated city employee, who spoke to the Citizen on the condition of anonymity, said returning to work at the city now “would be akin to staying in an abusive relationship.”
“I cannot return to a toxic, discriminatory workplace. There is animosity amongst the vaccinated employees who threatened job action if we, the affected employees, were compensated in any way,” they said. “I have also heard some employees feel ‘unsafe’ around those who were not vaccinated for COVID-19.”
The employee said they don’t feel the compensation they were offered was fair and that they felt their union failed them. However, the employee said, despite the ongoing hardship, they feel they made the right choice to remain unvaccinated.
“The wrongs have not been made right,” they said. “(But) I did not bend my morals for a pay cheque. I maintained my dignity. I maintained my bodily autonomy. The situation I was placed in allowed me to see a larger picture, one where I was in control of my own fate. I started my own business.”
