It’s been an interesting several weeks, and the coming few will have some drama of who’s going to blink first. My department, and many others, are requiring vaccines and had a deadline of less than 2 weeks “or else”. That deadline has passed and now we’re getting threatening letters and emails from the city that we need to be vaccinated and report our status “or else” be subject to administrative review and discipline (whatever that means). Our union board members (which I’m not a part of) and other unions of the city have encouraged us to stand firm and not give in to their demands for those who choose not to vaccinate, or file for medical/religious exemption.
It’s turning into a big labor dispute and the unions are demanding a “meet and confer” to review details of any vaccine mandate before it’s implemented. It’s required by law to do so if any work conditions are to be changed, which some cities have overstepped by threatening termination. City leaders have really put themselves in a corner with this. “They” and “we” both know they’re not really going to terminate the employment of so many police officers and other civil employees. We’ll see whose bluff gets called first.
LA’s sheriff just recently stated he’s not mandating vaccinations, and leave it as a personal choice, while LA city is doing the opposite and mandating vaccination for all employees. That’s 2 of the biggest law enforcement agencies on the west coast in the same area with contrasting mandates.
