EACOM Ear Falls Mill
The owner of the Ear Falls sawmill is offering its employees a monetary incentive for getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
EACOM spokesperson Biliana Necheva says they are offering $200 for the first dose and $150 for the second.
“It’s not so much an inducement as it is as a thank you. We offer the payment on proof of vaccination and it’s also offered to our Woodlands contractors. So not only direct employees but also the larger EACOM family that we work with.”
Necheva notes. “Our employees have been through a lot in the last year. We’ve put in a lot of measures at our mills. There’s the masks. There’s the hand sanitizing. We have thermal scanners now. They have to fill out a questionnaire when they come in every day. So there are a lot of measures that have been put in place to make sure that we offer a safe working environment.”
Necheva adds the program is one of the first, if not only, of its kind in the region.
“As far as I know, in many northern Ontario communities, we are the first to offer something like that. Other companies are offering something like paid time off or a smaller amount. It was very important for us to pick an amount that conveyed how important safety in the workplace is to EACOM.”
She says the goal is to have 85% of their extended workforce immunized by the end of the year when the promotion ends.
Stephen Boon, is the Local/National representative for Unifor and he commends EACOM for “its leadership in rolling out this new $350 employee vaccination incentive across its Ontario and Quebec mills and specifically for the 140 Unifor members employed at the EACOM Ear Falls Sawmill.”
Boon notes fortunately, “the Ear Falls sawmill has continued to operate well throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and we are confident this new vaccine incentive program will now help achieve much needed long-term protection and security for both the employees of the Ear Falls sawmill and the entire community of Ear Falls community by encouraging as many people as possible go out and get vaccinated.”
(With Files From Tim Davidson: Kenora)
