NEW YORK CITY, NY – In the latest bid to increase vaccination rates within the city, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has reportedly threatened to withhold pay from police officers and other city employees if they refuse to either get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID testing.
"If someone, again, does not follow that mandate, that's true, eventually, they're not going to be paid, obviously," de Blasio said in a press conference on Thursday.https://t.co/bbgIZ8ZOt5
— Emily Walsh (@0kayem) September 11, 2021
Mayor de Blasio threatened to hold back the wages of New York City Police Department officers and other city employees who aren’t COVID-19-vaccinated or are rejecting weekly testing.
All city workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo testing for the virus on a weekly basis, according to Mayor de Blasio order that goes into full effect on September 13th, affecting about 340,000 city workers from numerous sectors across the city.
Speaking during a press conference on September 9th, Mayor de Blasio stated the following:
“If someone, again, does not follow that mandate, that’s true, eventually, they’re not going to be paid, obviously.”
As of September 10th, approximately 53% of NYPD employees have received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to roughly 79% of adults in the city who have done the same. Overall, approximately 71% of all adults in the city have been fully vaccinated.
PBA president Patrick J. Lynch spoke out against the order, namely taking issue with the fact that NYPD officers will have to be vaccinated on their own time and not be compensated for doing so – which he noted in a recent memo that said officials have gone back on their word to pay officers to receive their vaccination:
“Contrary to our previous conversations with the Department, the order indicates that unvaccinated MOS must obtain a COVID-19 test on their own time.”
Lynch says that if the city is mandating either vaccinations or testing, then that time should be compensated:
“In the PBA’s view, any testing mandated by the Department must be conducted on job time and at the city’s expense, and any test received outside of the MOS’s regular working hours should be subject to overtime compensation.”
This rolled out mandate within New York City comes on the heels of President Joe Biden’s recent plans where he announced that he’s going to use the power of the Department of Labor – specifically by creating an OSHA rule – that would mandate employers who have 100 or more employees to either require weekly testing or vaccines for all employees:
“The Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees, that together employ over 80 million workers, to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.”
President Biden just announced that the Department of Labor will require employers to give employees paid time off to get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/vmcoYDh4OL
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 9, 2021
However, in President Biden’s announced intentions to put the squeeze on larger employers to force the aforementioned, he has also said that these employers would be required “to give those workers paid time off to get vaccinated.”
Yet, a recent piece by Vox, it was noted that there are legitimate questions on whether the Department of Labor has the capacity to impose such a mandate:
“The bottom line is that the fate of the new vaccination rules is uncertain. There is fairly little case law interpreting the Labor Department’s power to issue emergency standards.”
Seattle, which has lost 300 cops during ‘defund the police’ movement, faces losing 200 more over new “mandate”
(Originally published September 8th, 2021)
SEATTLE, WA- According to reports, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) has lost roughly 300 officers since the beginning of the “defund the police” movement, which began around summer 2020.
Exclusive: Seattle Police could lose 200 officers over vaccine mandate terminations https://t.co/LgCeE2WIeE
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) September 7, 2021
A little over a year later and now the department might lost another 200 officers over Mayor Jenny Durkan’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH has learned that there are just over 200 police officers who say they either have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 or refuse to turn over their private medical data. This number represents roughly 20 percent of the SPD’s deployable staff.
Reportedly, under the new vaccine mandate, city workers who do not get the shots will be terminated. The SPD, already stretched thin with little support from city council or the mayor, cannot stand to lose any more officers.
The City of Seattle is now requiring full vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition of employment, regardless of one’s age, risk factors, or prior infection. As of this writing, religious and medical exemptions are offered, but it is unclear if the city will actually accommodate those requests.
REPORT: Seattle could lose 200 police officers over the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The city that literally had full city blocks taken over by far-left radicals cannot afford to lose 200 officers. They must drop this ridiculuous mandate immediately.https://t.co/7X2peVLJM3
— Tea Party Patriots (@TPPatriots) September 7, 2021
City staff must be fully vaccinated by October 18th. Some officers with the SPD do not believe the vaccine is necessary to do their job. For the last 17 months, officers have been in the field without a vaccine.
Other officers do not think the government has the right to data on private medical decisions, even if they may be vaccinated; it is simply not the government’s business.
Durkan’s mandate was subject to impact bargaining with the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild (SPOG). The union has reportedly been negotiating with city leaders and an agreement on terms could come soon, however, it is unclear how many of the 200 officers will be satisfied.
Shaun Van Eyk, union representative with PROTEC17, once of the city’s largest unions and co-chair of the Coalition of City Unions, said the mandate cause him and his members by surprise. He said:
“This whole situation is a little bit of a cart before the horse situation. It’s pretty clear that there wasn’t a lot of policy or procedural development in advance of that. I think there’s an absolute risk of a mass exodus from the city.”
At least one union negotiating with the city is asking for severance packages for staff who choose to forgo vaccination. If even a small portion of the officers are terminated due to the vaccination mandate, the effect would be catastrophic.
Report: More than 200 Seattle Police Officers Face Firing over Vaccine Mandate https://t.co/l6mFIiTebr
— Melanie Alexander (@MelanieAlex62) September 7, 2021
The SPD is already staffed at record lows not seen since the 1980s, which means proactive policing is practically non0-existent for the majority of Seattle.
Reportedly, often times there are only about 70 percent of officers patrolling the city on any given night. In light of this, violent crime has surged across the city, which is now on pace to break the 26-year-high homicide rate set in 2020.
With just over 1,000 deployable officers, the city is about 300-500 offices shy of where they need ti be. A Durkan spokesperson said in a statement:
“We are hopeful that terminations will not be necessary and all unvaccinated employees choose to get vaccinated.”
Shortly after Durkan issued the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the president of the largest Seattle police union issued a warning. During his podcast, “Hold the Line with Mike Solan, ” Solan, president of SPOG, said:
“I can tell you right now, we could potentially have a lot of officers that could be terminated by this mandate.”
The mandate, he said, could accelerate exits from the SPD. He added:
“Our Seattle community is already experiences a Seattle Police Department staffing crisis. Given the crisis, which in part is resulting in an alarming crime wave, can Seattle now endure more losses of police officers due to Mayor Durkan’s vaccination order?”
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Hundreds of state troopers face being fired as state denies all religious and health exemptions for mandates
(Originally published September 4th, 2021)
OLYMPIA, WA- Typically, employees are allowed to opt out of things such as vaccination mandates for one of two reasons—health concerns or religious exemptions.
However in the new world of adios personal liberty courtesy of power-hungry governors, we take you to Washington State, where incompetent Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has decided that religion is no longer an adequate excuse to avoid the jab.
According to Jason Rantz of 770 KTTH in Seattle, Inslee has now told troopers with the Washington State Patrol (WSP), who have successfully worked for the past 18 months without a vaccine by wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) to avoid the ‘rona, that the religious exemptions no longer apply.
In an email sent to WSP staff Thursday, Inslee wrote that “there is no accommodation that can be provided for the religious exemption requests.” A subsequent email sent by a WSP captain confirmed the directive.
So as a result of the decision, which impacts any “public-facing” position, troopers must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 or state dictator Inslee says they will be fired. Rantz said the decision was made after human resources consulted with the Attorney General’s office. The email specifically puts the blame for the decision on Inslee’s office.
This decision could have a significant negative impact on staffing within the Washington State Patrol, which Rantz notes could “cripple the entire department.”
According to the email obtained by the Jason Rantz show on KTTH, a high-ranking official within the WSP confirmed that “there is no accommodation that can be provided for the religious exemption requests.”
“I wish I had better news on this as I know many of us have been waiting to hear back regarding accommodation requests,” the email, sent to some WSP staff read.
“I know this is hard news to hear for many of us. I wanted to share this with you directly as soon as I found out instead of waiting for the daily bulletin to come out.”
Rantz said that WSP troopers can expect to see their religious exemption requests denied in the coming days.
The second email, sent on Friday morning and written by a WSP captain noted that the guidance was provided by state human resources from “guidance provided by the Governor’s Office.”
“At this time, it has been confirmed that for any public-facing position, there are limited accommodations available,’ the email reads, and continued that “there is no accommodation we can provide for their religious exemption requests.”
Continuing, the email read, “I have already asked how this is possible and I’m seeking clarification on how we have been working in this Covid environment for the past 17-months utilizing the appropriate PPE and social distancing protocols to complete our mission.”
Leaked emails obtained showing correspondence between Inslee and representatives for Attorney General Bob Ferguson showed the state of Washington wrote the religious exemption form to be as “narrow as possible.”
This was done in order to prevent religious staffers from receiving accommodation. However the forms provided to assorted staff members noted that any exemption would be subject to the ability to provide accommodations.
They are not only trying to limit religious exemptions but also medical exemptions. According to the email, “the employee [seeking medical exemption] will have to take leave during that waiting period until they can come back to work fully vaccinated.”
While the email left a small opening that perhaps things might change, many state employees are preparing to lose their jobs.
One such person is a Washington State Trooper, Phillip Berg who is only five years into his career with the WSP. Berg previously served in the military and felt the call to join the state patrol and give something back to the community. He said that he is being forced out over the vaccine mandate.
“The public needs to be made aware of the repercussions of what October 19 looks like if medical exemptions and religious exemptions are not granted,” Berg said on Rantz’s show on KTTH, speaking in his personal capacity and not as a state trooper.
Berg believes the mandate will have a devastating effect on WSP staffing if accommodations are not provided.
“I disagree with the premise of [a] mandate on its face, [but] I decided to put in my religious exemption form for a specific reason,” he said.
“That it’s a chance to stand up for the unborn. That is my objection to it. The fetal cell lines used in the process to create this vaccine. So it’s an opportunity for me to have a voice for the unborn that didn’t have a choice in this.”
He emphasized that he will not let the feckless Inslee take that away from him.
“There’s nothing that anyone or any governmental entity can to do get me to disregard what God has placed on my heart,” Berg said.
“There’s nothing that can be done to me, promised to me, or taken away from me to dissuade me from my God-given convictions. So, yes, I’m 100% ready to be terminated October 18, and I can’t be swayed from that.”
Rantz said that if employees who seek accommodation or are ideologically opposed to Inslee’s mandate are fired, the Washington State Patrol will suffer what he describes as an “unprecedented staffing crisis.”
In a poll taken of members between Aug 9-17, troopers were asked if they plan to refuse the vaccination, even under threat of termination, 296 said yes. A more general question which asked troopers if they disagree with mandatory vaccinations showed 449 troopers in opposition to the plan while only 19 supported it.
In an email sent to members last week by the State Patrol’s association that was obtained by Rantz, they asked:
“Important questions need to be addressed, including what the agency will look like with a 20-35 percent loss of employees? How will the agency deploy resources to the areas that are most impacted?” the letter asked.
One trooper who said he will not take the vaccine and will accept termination is Robert LaMay, a 22-year department veteran who is refusing the vaccine. Also speaking in his personal capacity, LaMay warned of the implications of terminating so many troopers much as Berg did.
“I don’t know if people understand the amount of numbers, we’re talking about for state employees that are looking at leaving, LaMay told Rantz.
“I mean, we’re talking, just patrol, 400 or 500, 600 people. We have probably 800 guys that actually work the road, the rest of them are management positions, things of that nature…detectives. So if just a quarter of those types of people actually refused to get the vaccination and they are terminated on [Oct. 18]? That’s what the citizens of the state are actually looking at.”
This is something that bears watching. A number of power-hungry governors and mayors have decided to push mandatory vaccinations on their employees, and a number of those employees are going to push back. Even in a case such as Washington State, you’re talking to a substantial decimation of its authorized strength.
Extrapolate that out to a city such as New York or Chicago and the results would be absolutely devastating. In a battle of wits, our money is on the cops.
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