RI State Workers Could Get $3K Bonuses For Getting COVID Vaccine

NORTH PROVIDENCE, RI — Gov. Dan McKee's administration and Rhode Island's biggest union of state workers came to a tentative agreement on a new contract that would give employees bonuses for being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The agreement includes two $1,500 bonuses for state workers that get vaccinated, said J. Michael Downey, president of AFSCME Council 94. Downey said the union's 3,800 members will vote on the tentative agreement on Dec. 2.

If the agreement passes, fully vaccinated workers will get $1,500 after next month's vote, followed by an additional $1,500 bonus to be paid in July 2022.

"If they decide you have to get a booster or something else to be fully vaccinated, you'd have to do that," Downey said regarding the second bonus.

In Rhode Island, the COVID-19 vaccine isn't mandated for all state workers, but state health care workers are required to get vaccinated or face termination.

Downey said he knows state health care workers who got fired for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine. He believes McKee's administration's administration created the mandate to make a safer workplace. But at the same time, Downey said the bonuses are about rewarding those who did get immunized.

"If the state is going to tell one set of employees they're going to get fired if they don’t get vaccinated, they certainly should do something for the people that do,"Downey said. "I think it's a way for the union to say at least something should happen."

More details about the contract were not immediately available. Downey said he wants union members to look it over and vote on it before discussing further. State officials also were mum on details.

"The State and the unions are working diligently on a contract," said Derek Gomes, a spokesperson for the state Department of Administration. "Out of respect for the process, the state will not disclose any details until a contract is ratified."