Teachers’ unions back mandatory Covid vax rules

Dozens of education workers have appealed to their unions for help challenging their vax rules.

Teachers’ unions have received “several dozen” calls from members opposed to mandatory vaccination and asking for support to challenge new rulings.

The independent Education Union (IEU) and Australian Education Union (AEU) have both been contacted by members upset about the vaccination mandate for all workers in schools and early-childhood settings.

It comes as the Stadium Management Authority announced that spectators at any Adelaide Oval event will need to be fully vaccinated.

But IEU SA branch secretary Glen Seidel said there was “no real scope for any legal challenge”.

Independent Education Union secretary Glen Seidel. Picture: Campbell Brodie.

He said most members supported changes announced on Tuesday.

“We see vaccinations as a very important component of our Covid-19 recovery,” he said.

“But like any part of society, we have a handful of members who are opposed to vaccines or mandates or both. They’re quite upset and wanting us to stand up for their rights. However, there is no real scope for any legal challenge.”

Mr Seidel said the union would back members over workplace rights.

“But this is not a workplace right,” he said.

SA Health vaccinator Xuan at Wayville Vaccination Clinic. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards

The union’s position was that while personal freedoms were important, “when one person’s freedoms impact on another’s, a decision needs to be made on those competing interests”.

Workplaces must be safe, and that involved maximising vaccination rates, the union said.

The AEU SA branch has received “a few dozen calls and emails”.

Branch president Lara Golding said union delegates would meet on Saturday to discuss industrial issues, including whether there would be sufficient relief teachers.

However, the union strongly encouraged vaccinations.

Meanwhile, the national Steiner schools organisation says its expects some disruption in SA but is confident it will be manageable.

In NSW, some Steiner schools expect to lose significant proportions of their staff.

But Steiner Education Australia chief executive Virginia Moller said it was “totally incorrect” to portray Steiner schools as being anti-vaccinations.

She said Steiner schools, which include the Mount Barker Waldorf and Willunga schools, would comply with vaccination directives. “No school is anti-vaccination,” Dr Moller said.

There were diverse views in Steiner schools and individual responses reflected local communities, she said.

Dr Moller wrote to the NSW government urging consideration of alternatives to mandatory vaccination – but she did not intend to approach the SA government.

An SA Education Department spokesman said, at this stage, no organisations or schools had asked for extra exemptions and none were contemplated.