GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — While supporting vaccinations, the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce is against a federal mandate for businesses to require them. That would apply for companies with more than 100 employees.
The Grand Rapids Chamber joined many others across the state, as well as industry groups, urging President Biden to reconsider his vaccine mandate.
Listen to MI Business coalition calls the mandate "harmful."
More than six weeks ago, Biden promised new vaccination-or-testing rule for Americans at companies with more than 100 workers. Details of the mandate could come any day now.
However, Andy Johnston, the vice president of governmental affairs with the Grand Rapids Chamber, hopes to not see those details. If and when the vaccinations are mandated, he says the Chamber hopes MIOSHA is realistic with their enforcement and is no stricter than any federal requirement.
"We really, fundamentally believe that each employer should be allowed that flexibility about safety in their workplace," said Johnston, "How they attract workers, how they operate their businesses. When public policymakers get involved, it tends to lead to unintended consequences."
Although, Johnston made it very clear the Chamber supports and encourages COVID-19 vaccinations. This opposition is simply to the mandate. He said they are equally opposed to mandates that would ban employers from implementing their own vaccination policies.
"The impact it's going to have on an already constrained, to say the least, workforce," said Johnston, "Some of [the members] are concerned that they are going to lose employees over this who may go to smaller firms."
Losing workers is something Jimmy Greene, CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan, is already seeing happening in his industry. He said they are starting to see people pull out of the workforce who do federal contracting work, which has an earlier deadline for vaccine mandates.
"Right now, it's interesting, we're talking about infrastructure money, talking about rebuilding bridges, and roads, something we certainly support, because that's the construction industry," said Greene, "But when you're putting people on a shelf, needless to say, those timelines are going to get broader. Our workforce is going to get more narrow. And that's just not healthy for it."
Greene said the opposition to the federal mandate is a bipartisan issue. If workers leave the industry due to the mandate, it would be problematic for many reasons.
"Our economy would crash," said Greene, "I mean, that I can answer very simply. We're feeling the ill effects of it now. Imagine if it's full blown. We're going to have some huge issues as it relates to the economy here."
He also said the mandate creates issues with competition, as some workers will begin looking for employers with less than 100 employees.
Johnson said the mandate puts both a political and logistical difficulty onto employers. Under Biden's plan, those who are unvaccinated would need to do weekly COVID-19 testing.
"It's a soft mandate," said Johnston, "Being that if you choose not to get the vaccine, there is a testing option you can take advantage of. But is testing available? Where can you get it? Who's going to administer it? Who's going to pay for it? Can I still work when I'm waiting for a test or not? And then, you know, on top of it, how is how is this going to be enforced? What's that going to look like from MIOSHA perspective? What might the fines be? And so, a lot of different questions. A lot of uncertainty."
Johnston encourages employers to prepare for the mandate by counting employees, determining employee vaccination status, and create a communication plan.
The White House sees the mandate as a way to vaccinate about 65 million Americans who have so far refused to get a shot.
RELATED VIDEO: Controversial job dashboards are helping the unvaccinated find work
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.