After Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement of a vaccine mandate for city workers, police union heads say they will take legal actions to oppose the mandate and protect the rights of their employees.
On Wednesday, de Blasio said any city worker who is not vaccinated with at least the first dose of the vaccine by 5 p.m. on Oct. 29 will be put on unpaid leave, prompting police unions to fight back.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch said in a statement Thursday that his organization will go to court to protect his employees’ right to make their own medical decisions.
“From the beginning of the de Blasio administration’s haphazard vaccine rollout, we have fought to make the vaccine available to every member who chooses it, while also protecting their right to make that personal medical decision in consultation with their own doctor. Now that the city has moved to unilaterally impose a mandate, we will proceed with legal action to protect our members’ rights,” said Lynch.
Meanwhile, de Blasio said the mandate is a way out of the pandemic after having tried various financial incentives to get all workers vaccinated.
Detectives Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo told a local Fox News station on Wednesday that about 70 percent of his workforce is vaccinated and some have antibodies from recovering from the virus, and that his organization will also take legal action to protect those who do not want to get the vaccine.
“We will go into court to fight for their rights, and we will go into the Office of Collective Bargaining to try and negotiate some sort of settlement. But there are some people in this organization that are very against this vaccine, and we have to protect those rights, as well as the rights of the people that want the vaccine,” said DiGiacomo.
One of New York state’s congressional delegates Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, told Fox News on Friday that the decision by de Blasio is going to have a negative impact on the already escalating crime rate.
By Masooma Haq
