Detroit highlights the tension over the terms of the COVID vaccine

August 26 (Reuters) – Public support for stronger measures requiring vaccines against COVID is strong, according to a new Reuters / IPSOS survey, but for Detroit carmakers the debate over vaccination policy it is far from over.

General Motors Co. (GM.N) said Thursday it has demanded that its salaried U.S. employees report whether they have been shot with COVID-19, the first such action by one of the automakers. Detroit’s “Big Three.”

GM said the information will help “determine when GM should relax or strengthen certain COVID-19 safety protocols, as recommended by CDC and OSHA, such as the use of masks, physical distancing and rates of occupation of facilities, ”referring to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Separately, United Auto Workers chairman Ray Curry on Thursday expressed support for only voluntary measures to encourage vaccination or survey workers ’vaccination status.

The UAW, with nearly 400,000 members, represents workers from U.S. factories at GM, Ford Motor Co. (FN), Stellantis NV (STLA.MI), as well as workers from other manufacturers, schools, agencies government and US casinos.

“We would be open to discussion about voluntary efforts,” Curry said during a video conference Thursday.

Steps such as GM’s plan to gather information on the vaccination status of employees would be subject to negotiation before they could be applied to UAW workers, Curry said. This data collection would raise medical privacy issues, he said.

Similarly, Curry said UAWs would expect companies to negotiate before following the example of Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), which said it will charge unvaccinated employees an additional $ 200 a month for health coverage. of the company.

“We didn’t have an employer to contact us” a vaccination warrant or a penalty for workers who are not vaccinated, Curry said.

A new Reuters / Ipsos poll finds support for employers’ vaccination requirements.

The survey found that 60% of adults support employers who require people to submit a vaccination test before allowing them to return to the office, while 34% oppose vaccination requirements. The survey, conducted from 13 to 19 August, collected responses from 4,427 adults and has a credibility range, a measure of accuracy, of roughly 2 percentage points.

About two-thirds of American adults admit the need for masks in restaurants, planes, gyms, and the workplace, while less than a third oppose it, according to the survey.

Detroit automakers have re-established masking requirements in their factories as the Delta variant of the coronavirus has spread. But so far they have not proposed comprehensive measures to require vaccinations.

GM has about 48,000 salaried workers in the United States, of whom about 46,000 were represented by unions, according to its annual regulatory filing.

“GM implemented earlier this month an expanded reporting process on vaccination status that was mandatory for all U.S. employees. We collected this information using a confidential online tool,” the company in a statement.

Ford requires salaried staff to travel internationally for vaccination. “We are currently assessing whether we should expand the requirement,” the company said in a statement.

Reports of Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Written by Joseph White; Edited by Arun Koyyur and Jonathan Oatis

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