Coronavirus: University teaching union to appeal court ruling on vaccination

The union representing academic staff at the Limassol-based university of technology (Tepak) will be appealing a court decision that upheld coronavirus-related protocols there, which they say are discriminatory.

In a statement, the union said the court ruling in question had failed to take into account three issues of substance: the legality, necessity and proportionality of the health protocols; the university administration’s lack of consultation with staff on matters relating to work conditions; and the lack of clarity as to the Senate’s competences.

The union added they were taking legal recourse with a “heavy heart,” but were obliged to due to the administration’s “arrogant stance”.

It said the university administration would not budge “despite repeated attempts to allow our unvaccinated members to teach remotely…all such pleas were rejected.”

According to the union, the court had ruled in the university’s favour on procedural grounds, and not on the merits of the case.

In their view, therefore, the court never found Tepak’s measures lawful or constitutional – so the issue remains open. They also accuse the university’s lawyer of trying to mislead public opinion about the court ruling by claiming that the court had in fact examined the substance of the case.

The union cited a recent report by the ombudswoman, who questioned whether Tepak had legal coverage to bar the unvaccinated from physical attendance.

Back in December, ombudswoman Maria Stylianou Lottides called on the university to reverse a decision prohibiting unvaccinated students from physical attending classes.

Tepak had decided before the new semester to only allow vaccinated and recovered students to physically attend classes.

The decision was met with strong opposition from student unions but a month later, in September, the university stated that the number of students attending courses in-person had reached 70 per cent.

At the same time , Tepak said, the share of vaccinated in academic staff exceeded 95 per cent and among administrative staff it was over 85 per cent.

Lottides said students had been offered an alternative way, remote learning, but Tepak was a technological institution and lab attendance was necessary to secure a degree.

“It ought to comply because it became clear that internet teaching was not effective and in essence students did not have access to learning,” she had noted.

“If that had been accomplished then we would not be talking about discrimination in education and mainly the labs that were inaccessible.”