Do you support a proposed bonus program for state workers that would pay them up to $3,000 if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19?

THE UNIVERSITY of Massachusetts is the latest local college to announce it will make COVID-19 vaccine booster shots mandatory for students and faculty. / AP FILE PHOTO/MATT ROURKE

On Nov. 18 Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s administration and AFSCME Council 94 reached a tentative agreement on a new contract that includes two $1,500 bonuses to be paid to state workers who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

McKee has declined to comment on the vaccine bonus provision in the contract. The union expects members to vote on the tentative four-year agreement on Dec. 2.

The union’s 3,800 members have not been mandated to get vaccinated against COVID-19, while other workers in the state, including in the health care sector, have been required to do so.

House Minority Leader Blake A. Filippi, R-New Shoreham, thinks the vaccine bonus is a bad idea.

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“We should not be giving out taxpayer dollars to fund a bonus to select people who got vaccines,” he told PBN.

Business leaders have also raised concerns about rewarding one group of employees for getting vaccinations but not others.

Do you support a proposed bonus program for state workers that would pay them up to $3,000 if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19?

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