Stuff Digital Edition

Restaurateur reluctantly ‘leaning towards’ jab plan

Piers Fuller and John Anthony

‘‘In an already destroyed industry, it’s going to tear through it and rip it apart.’’

Masterton restaurant owner Caleb Kloeg says he is reluctantly ‘‘leaning towards’’ getting vaccinated so his business can continue operating and staff don’t lose their jobs.

‘‘This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, not just in business, but in my life,’’ Kloeg said.

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood on Tuesday said all staff working in hospitality, events, gatherings, close contact businesses and gyms needed to have their first vaccination by the time the traffic light system comes into effect on December 3.

Workers need to have their second dose by January 17 to continue working.

Openly critical of the Government’s Covid-19 response on social media, Kloeg and his staff have been running Saint Sebastian restaurant mask-free under level 2, despite it being a requirement.

Kloeg said he was not vaccinated, but was now ‘‘leaning towards’’ the personally wrenching decision to get the injection so that his business could continue operating once New Zealand moves into the traffic light system on December 3.

‘‘The only reason I’m doing this is so that my staff don’t lose their jobs or their livelihoods, and as well that my customers can still come.’’

He said he had enough vaccinated staff to run the restaurant once the deadline rolled around, but he would not push other staff into getting vaccinated, and he would try to find roles in other parts of the business for them if necessary.

His restaurant would opt out of the vaccine pass programme My Vaccine Pass once the traffic light system starts and would therefore operate under greater restrictions.

That included contactless only at orange and red settings.

Kloeg said the sweeping mandate had big implications for the hospitality industry.

‘‘In an already destroyed industry, it’s going to tear through it and rip it apart.’’

Businesses that do not follow My Vaccine Passes requirements face fines of up to $15,000.

Wood told Stuff the Government had indicated that workers in businesses where vaccine certificates could apply would need to be vaccinated.

But that’s not the impression hospitality leaders were under.

Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said it had not been her understanding that all staff in hospitality would need to be vaccinated.

‘‘It was our understanding in the first instance that the mandate wouldn’t apply to those businesses who were not involved in the Covid passes.’’

Businesses that had not planned on operating a vaccine pass did not anticipate having to work through the issue of mandatory vaccination with their staff, she said. Hospitality NZ chief executive Julie White said she had been unaware vaccination would be compulsory for all hospitality staff.

‘‘Our initial interpretation was that it could be optional for the business and the business owner whether they had a nonvaccine status that would apply to their staff,’’ White said.

‘‘But we were always very hesitant to advise our members until things were black and white.’’

That advice came yesterday, with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment releasing new guidance.

White said it did not make sense to have a situation where unvaccinated customers would be allowed to enter a hospitality venue where all staff were vaccinated. ‘‘Where’s the risk control there?’’ Hair and Barber NZ chair Niq James was made aware of the mandate for all hairdressers to be vaccinated through word of mouth. ‘‘We haven’t heard officially,’’ James said.

Business

en-nz

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

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