Chicago police union boss urges officers to defy COVID vaccine mandate

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A potential safety issue is coming to a head in Chicago as police officers resist COVID-19 vaccine mandates, possibly leaving their departments under-staffed as homicides and shootings increase.

Chicago Police Union president John Catanzara has urged officers to ignore the midnight deadline to report their vaccine status to the city. If the city tries to punish officers for not complying, only half will show up to patrol city streets, Catanzara predicted.

"Any sergeant, lieutenant, captain or above who gives you an order to go in that portal is not valid. You are able to refuse that order," he said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said officers who refuse to report their vaccine status "do so at their peril."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/chicago-police-union-boss-urges-officers-to-defy-covid-vaccine-mandate/ar-AAPAaCo

I'm generally pro-union but it seems those who head police unions are out and out fascists.

[secondwind]

1. I just don't get this.....

[Crunchy Frog]

12. I think it's intended to be a power play. They want to flaunt that they are outside the law,

and are answerable to nobody.

[wryter2000]

2. The police are showing who they are

Given all the interaction with all kinds of people their job requires, they should be demanding vaccination. This shows their true colors, Trumpian through and through.

[Turbineguy]

3. Dead members

pay Union dues.

[haele]

4. As mayor, I would be asking the police unions why they don't want to protect

Their members from the greatest cause of police deaths over the past two years. Twice as many police and their families have died of Covid than any other cause.

The unions are playing politics with their member's lives.

Point that out!

Haele

[Sherman A1]

5. Fire them

Call out the Guard if necessary, but terminate each and every one of these losers.

[Bev54]

6. Isn't this the same guy the courts granted a restraining order against

to stop him from making any more bullshit statements??

[Arazi]

7. Yes. The restraining order was yesterday. Vax compliance deadline was midnight

Anyone heard what percentage actually walked off?

Kinda hoping this went down the same as every other place that's implemented mandates and the vast majority just went and got vaxxed

[Bev54]

10. Yeah, can't find any updates.

[EleanorR]

8. COVID is the leading cause of death among police officers

The pandemic has taken a devastating toll on police departments across the country. COVID-19 is now killing more law enforcement officers than any other threat they face in the line of duty — 716 officers have died since March 2020, according to the Fraternal Order of Police.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-police-officers-leading-cause-death/

[Crunchy Frog]

13. So much for the "fearing for their lives" bullshit.

It is, and it always has been, only about having power over other people.

[Initech]

9. Sure if you want to die a horrible and preventable death.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. Fire them and rehire outlide the union. Only ones who don't consider themselves outside the law,

and are willing to be answerable to civilian leadership and the public.

This is ridiculous and intolerable.

[rockfordfile]

14. IMO these police union leaders are crooks.;)

They don't care at all about the police officers. If they did, they wouldn't be doing this anti-American anti-vaccine crap.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Looks like he was told to STFU

Silence Ordered for Chicago Police Union Head in Vaccine Fight

A judge ordered the head of Chicago’s police union to stop urging officers on social media to defy a requirement to report their Covid-19 vaccination status.

The temporary restraining order hands a momentary victory to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the fight over the mandate, which threatens to widen into a public-safety issue if police officers walk off the job. Cook County Judge Cecilia Horan ruled late Friday that irreparable harm was possible if union leader John Catanzara Jr. continued to make his statements.

Lightfoot has argued that Catanzara, president of Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge #7, was already jeopardizing public safety and engaging in a work stoppage by telling officers to snub the requirement to report their status on the city’s employee portal.

The reporting deadline was Friday. Chicago has said that unvaccinated officers could be placed on unpaid leave, though city officials say there’s no immediate threat to the jobs of officers who don’t comply.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/silence-ordered-for-chicago-police-union-head-in-vaccine-fight/ar-AAPBzmN