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Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says he plans to join other Republican governors in challenging U.S. President Joe Biden’s sweeping new vaccine requirement in court.
Ricketts said on Fox News Sunday that Nebraska’s attorney general has been consulting with other attorneys general who believe the federal government is overstepping its authority by mandating that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. The roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.
“This is really going to create huge problems for all small businesses and for our American workers,” Ricketts said. “You shouldn’t have to make the choice of keeping your job or getting a jab in the arm.”
In Nebraska, Ricketts has encouraged people to get vaccinated and wear masks but he has resisted mandates to do either.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has risen over the past two weeks from 715.14 new cases per day on Aug. 27 to 822.86 new cases per day on Friday as the highly contagious delta variant of the virus spreads.
Ricketts said he is focused on making sure hospitals have enough capacity to handle the surge in COVID-19 cases.
In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the federal vaccination mandate hurts efforts to overcome the public’s resistance to taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Republican governor has been notable in working to persuade reluctant Arkansas residents to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. But in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Hutchinson said a comprehensive federal vaccination mandate “hardens the resistance.”
The measure will be implemented through an emergency temporary standard issued by the U.S. Department of Labour’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which regulates workplaces. The rule is expected in the coming weeks, and it was not clear when it would take effect.
OSHA can implement an emergency standard when workers are exposed to a “grave danger” and the standard is needed to protect them. This allows the agency to cut short the usual process for developing a standard, which averages seven years.
While many large employers have said they plan to comply, some businesses are also likely to sue.
-From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 11:10 a.m ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | School outbreaks hit Alberta as COVID-19 puts strain on health-care system:
Hospitals strained as COVID-19 cases increase in Alberta schools
20 hours ago
As Alberta’s hospitals buckle under the pressure of a COVID-19 surge, some schools say 10 per cent of students are out sick and there’s no sign the province is increasing restrictions or moving to vaccine passports. 2:03
What’s happening around the world
People wait in a queue to receive the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination clinic at a zoo in Surabaya in Indonesia. (Juni Kriswanto/AFP/Getty Images)
As of early early Monday afternoon, more than 224.8 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking cases. The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.6 million.
In the Asia-Pacific region, New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, will remain in the strictest type of lockdown until Sept. 21 after the government on Monday reported 33 new COVID-19 infections. The nation has been battling an outbreak since last month that came from Australia. The outbreak had grown to 955 cases by Monday with 21 infected patients in hospital and four in intensive care.
Singapore’s health ministry reported 607 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the highest since August last year. The country’s COVID-19 cases have hit a one-year high in the recent days as it entered a phased reopening after more than 80 per cent of its population was fully vaccinated.
Vietnam’s coronavirus outbreak epicentre Ho Chi Minh City will extend its restrictions, state media reported, as Hanoi and several provinces sought an easing of curbs and the aviation authority proposed domestic flights resume.
A minor receives Sinovac vaccine jab from a health-care worker in Pretoria, South Africa, on Friday. The country started Phase 3 COVID-19 clinical trials investigating the efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine in children. (Themba Hadebe/The Associated Press)
In Africa, South Africa will ease COVID-19 restrictions and shorten its nationwide curfew after a decline in infections, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a televised address.
In Europe, Britain decided Monday to follow other countries in offering coronavirus vaccines to children 12 and up, as the government gambled that expanded vaccination and mild tweaks to social behaviour can avert the need for lockdowns in the winter.
Vaccinations for children and booster shots for at-risk adults are expected to be part of a “tool kit” to control COVID-19 infections this fall and winter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to announce Tuesday at a news conference.
Slovenia, meanwhile, will from this week require that all people who enter indoor spaces, with few exceptions, be vaccinated against COVID-19 or show negative tests unless they have had the disease in the previous six months.
Health workers are seen during a program to immunize vulnerable people who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 at the floating island of Uros in Peru. (Carlos Mamani/AFP/Getty Images)
In the Americas, almost 800,000 additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Peru on Sunday, local media reported. The country’s health ministry said millions of doses are expected this month.
In the Middle East, Oman’s fiscal deficit and debt are expected to decline sharply, the International Monetary Fund said on Sunday, as the Gulf state implements a medium-term plan to fix finances hit by the pandemic and low oil prices.
–From The Associated Press, Reuters and CBC News, last updated at 2 p.m. ET
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
