He said he had ‘no other option’ than to sack his son from the family business
The owner of a building firm in Australia was forced to sack his son from the family business because he refused to get a Covid jab.
Peter Wishart is the managing director of Facelift for Homes in Melbourne but had to sack his son, who was general manager of the business, on Tuesday (September 21) after vaccinations were made mandatory for construction workers in Australia, reports the Metro.
The government in the state of Victoria shut down construction sites for two weeks to try and slow the spread of the virus – and from Friday employees will have to show proof they have had at least one jab in order to continue working.
This has resulted in protests across Melbourne.
Construction workers chant ‘hold your ground’ at Melbourne protest as police close in. pic.twitter.com/THAvOPsERl
— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) September 22, 2021
Wishart described his son as “the future of the business,” but he had chosen not to get vaccinated.
This meant Peter had to face what he called the “hardest day of my life” as he sacked his son
Pete told radio station 3AW: “Today’s going to be the worst day of my life, business career-wise. I have to go into work today and put my son off.
“I’ve been in business for 50 years and I employ 10 other people, and it’s gonna be the hardest day of my life.”
He added that he had tried to persuade his son to have the jab but that his son “doesn’t believe the vaccination has been proved enough” and that he is not going to “push him into something he doesn’t want to do.”
Industrial Relations Minister Tim Pallas said: “We’ve been clear: if you don’t follow the rules, we won’t hesitate to take action – we have seen widespread noncompliance across the industry and that’s why we’re taking necessary steps to protect every single Victorian.”
The vaccination rollout has been slow across Australia, with just 44.4% of the eligible Victoria population having been fully vaccinated.
Victoria revealed a record high number of cases for this year on Tuesday (September 21) with 603 new infections.
Related links:
- Care worker angry after losing job for refusing the vaccine
- 12-15 year olds to be offered COVID-19 vaccine
- Chinese whistleblower claims first Covid outbreak was ‘intentional’
