Stellantis will need to end its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in Canada, an arbitrator has ruled.

On October 14 last year, Stellantis joined General Motors and Ford in announcing a vaccine mandate for its workers. The automaker’s policy went into effect on December 17, 2021 and it started to suspend unvaccinated employees without pay in January.

Unifor Local 444 and Unifor Local 1285, representing the Windsor Assembly Plant and Brampton Assembly Plant respectively, filed a grievance over the policy and entered arbitration with lawyers from Stellantis.

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In a June 17 ruling, the arbitrator ruled that while the policy was initially reasonable, it must end by June 25, allowing for some suspended employees to return to work.

“The arbitrator had ruled that when the policy was put in place and implemented, it was ‘reasonable’ at that time and continued to be reasonable up until now,” Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy said in a statement. “However, the virus epidemiology study’s [sic] showing an ever-changing variants of the COVID-19 virus now make this policy unreasonable as of June 25, 2022.”

The arbitrator also factored in the Federal Government’s decision to lift its mandatory vaccination policy for government employees from June 20th in their determination, Cassidy added.

“The evidence supports a conclusion that there is negligible difference in the risk of transmission in respect of Omicron as between a two-dose vaccine regimen and remaining unvaccinated,” arbitrator Marilyn Nairn said. “There is, under the definition in the Policy, no longer a basis for removing unvaccinated employees from the workplace.”

Stellantis released a brief statement after the ruling but made no mention of how suspended employees will return to work.

“We are very pleased with the arbitrator’s decision that the Stellantis vaccine policy is reasonable,” the company said. “Stellantis takes its obligation to provide a safe and healthy working environment for its 9,000+ employees throughout Canada seriously. We are carefully reviewing the decision before determining next steps.”

Ford continues to require full vaccination for its Canadian facilities and speaking with The Detroit News, spokeswoman Kerri Stoakley said more than 95 per cent of its employees are vaccinated or have received an exemption. Its policy deadline has been extended from May 2 until July 4.