Google and other major companies in the US will require employees to be vaccinated before returning to the office. Google also has plans in this direction for other countries, but trade unions and employers in the Netherlands point out that this is not legally allowed here.
United States of America
In addition to Google, in the US, Facebook, Netflix, airlines Delta and United also make a vaccination commitment to employees. In addition, the states of California and New York want officials to be vaccinated or regularly tested for the coronavirus. President Biden wants similar actions at the federal level. Altogether, Google Netherlands has about 900 employees. About 400 people work in the head office in Amsterdam and about 475 in the data centres.
google
The vaccination obligation will go into effect at Google’s US affiliates in the coming weeks. The commitment will be carried out in offices in other countries if enough vaccines are available there, the company reports. Additional guidelines will be issued to people who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons.
Trade unions and VNO-NCW
In the Netherlands, trade unions FNV, CNV and the umbrella organization of employers VNO-NCW indicated in a response to Google’s plans that the obligation to vaccinate is not feasible, as it conflicts with the physical integrity enshrined in Article 11 of the Constitution. An FNV spokeswoman said: “The government could adopt an emergency law for this, but Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister Hugo de Jong have already said they are not making vaccinations mandatory.” Both unions and the VNO-NCW point out that the debate about mandatory employee vaccination is not or almost a problem among their supporters due to the high willingness to vaccinate in the Netherlands.
NOS / ANP
