Thousands of New York City police officers, firefighters and city employees have been placed on unpaid leave Monday for refusing to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. According to data released by the New York City Mayor’s Office, as of last night, 22,800 municipal workers were unvaccinated. “Nine thousand people [were] placed on leave without […]
Thousands of New York City police officers, firefighters and city employees have been placed on unpaid leave Monday for refusing to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
According to data released by the New York City Mayor’s Office, as of last night, 22,800 municipal workers were unvaccinated.
“Nine thousand people [were] placed on leave without pay today,” Mitch Schwartz, a spokesman for the mayor, told Fox News. “The rest are in various stages of having their accommodation requests reviewed. They can be at work.”
“We’re here today because of a mandate that was put on the, you know, our members, but also on all New York City employees given nine days to make a life changing decision on their career or whether or not they can take a vaccine,” Andy Ansbro, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association union said Monday.
Meanwhile, fire union officials called on Mayor Bill De Blasio to give their rank and file more time to decide on whether or not to get vaccinated.
“We’re forcing these decisions on our members, and they’re acting accordingly, some members have gotten the vaccination,” James McCarthy, FDNY-Uniformed Fire Officers Association president James McCarthy said. “We’ve had some members retire after serving the general public in New York City...for over 25 years.”
“So it’s very impactful and we needed more time. That’s all,” he added. “We were trying to negotiate more time to make these decisions, just like the de Blasio administration, gave every other organization every other year in this city.”
As reported by Fox News, the police department, which employs about 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees, reported an 84 percent vaccination rate as of Sunday, while the fire department said that 80 percent of its employees were vaccinated - 75 percent of firefighters, 87 percent of EMTs and 90 percent of civilian employees.
