Source: Gothamist

The New York City teachers union has formally requested the state to intervene against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vaccine mandate for all city Department of Education employees, calling it “draconian” and a violation of due process with less than two weeks to go until the first day of public school September 13th.

The union said the city is not cooperating in carving out medical and religious exemptions to the vaccination mandate, which goes into effect September 27th for 148,000 DOE employees. That includes teachers, administrators, cafeteria workers and custodians who must show proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the effective date.

The vaccine mandate “eviscerates the due process and collective bargaining rights of educators who could lose their livelihoods, health benefits and pensions, and disregards those who for whom vaccination is medically contraindicated or violates a sincerely-held religious belief of employees,” the union said in a filing with the state Public Employment Relations Board Wednesday. They added that in recent bargaining sessions the city has shown it "has no intention of budging from its inflexible stance or including the UFT in any meaningful bargaining concerning the implementation of the City’s vaccination policy.”

Read more: https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-teachers-union-fights-medical-and-religious-exemptions-covid-19-vaccine-mandate?fbclid=IwAR3IAim6wlwGcv6ADU0qhSUNxQjkZmQpFcCx9hS_wc7kJ4PzmZE6iYaG0C4

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This is disgusting. I am normally a big ally of the labor movement, but this is disgusting and hypocritical. The teachers union in New York lobbied for their members to be given priority status. Now they are asking for exemptions for their members. You don't get to have it both ways. You don't get to say my group should be prioritized, and then say my group also deserves exemptions.


For the record that goes for police and fire departments as well.

Seems relevant

We are all mad about how Texas wants to impose the handmaid's tale on the country. These are dark times and then we start time we need a little humor to get us through the day.