It was never put to a vote so you wouldn't know whether SPC workers were unanimously in favour of it or not. There were certainly a few workers who didn't seem to be in favour interviewed for the SMH article, SPC workers threaten to quit over vaccine mandate.
My understanding was that SPC had workers complete a vaccination survey before making the decision, the extremely high rate of workers responding their intention to vaccinate was part of the decision. The AMWU was upset that the Union was not consulted beforehand and that was blown out into 'no worker consultation'. The Work Safe conclusion was that there was no issue with worker consultation, hence the AMWU action failed. The company maintained it had no reason to consult with the union at the time as it was a public health and safety matter that involved its workers and the community surrounding and simply notifying the union was sufficient.
Thank you for your interest in SPC’s COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination Response Plan collateral.
The collateral pack includes SPC’s COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination Response Plan deck – a summary document that should be read first – and the following sample / template documents in Word format to assist you in preparing similar documents for your organisation:
- Employment and contractor agreement clauses
- Union questions and answers
- Vaccination intention survey form
- Vaccination letter to union
- Vaccination mandate staff FAQs
- Workplace vaccination policy
- Interview sheet for non-registration and no vaccination
- Mandatory vaccination letter to contractors
- Poor performance and misconduct policy
- Staff announcement and additional management clause
- Staff vaccination priority registration support letter for GPs
That's SPCs rundown on preparation for mandates, note item 3. This was also used in QFs decision to mandate vaccination with the high respondent rate in favor of vaccination. That is considered consultation. Basically if you run a survey asking your intentions around being vaccinated it constitutes consultation and if high enough positive response can support a mandate, a lot of companies have gone down this path.
On the BHP matter that was just brain fade on my part, the consultation issue was the main sticking point and contractual issues secondary. Basically I used the word technicality as it was not dismissed outright with no recourse as the mandate can be reintroduced and most likely succeed if the consultation on timeline is addressed.