As vaccination mandate looms, New York prepares for shortage of
firefighters, police
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[October 30, 2021]
By Peter Szekely
NEW YORK (Reuters) -New York City officials
on Friday were preparing for shortages of firefighters, police officers
and other first responders as a showdown looms between the city and its
unvaccinated uniformed workforce, who face a 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT)
deadline to be immunized.
De Blasio, who announced the mandate nine days ago, said officials would
manage any staffing gaps with overtime and schedule changes and by
enlisting private ambulance companies to cover for the city's
paramedics.
"We have all of the typical tools of how you use staff, move them
around, how you use overtime," de Blasio told reporters on Thursday,
adding that the city also faced staffing shortages last year when many
first responders were infected with COVID.
Leaders of unions representing firefighters and police officers have
said the city could put more than one-third of their members on unpaid
leave when enforcement of the vaccine mandate takes effect on Monday.
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Given the ongoing staffing shortages the department has been facing in a
tight labor market, New York City should prepare to witness an
"inevitable disaster by design" on Monday, Andrew Ansbro, president of
Uniformed Firefighters Association, said at a briefing on Friday.
Union leaders said members were not given adequate time to comply with
the mayor's vaccination deadline.
Ansbro said his organization wanted to negotiate with the city to allow
members to seek an exemption from the order for those who have recovered
from the disease, religious or medical reasons. De Blasio has repeatedly
refused to negotiate, he said.
"Right now their livelihood is on the line and their paycheck is on the
line," Ansbro said of his members.
The dispute in the United States' most populous city was the latest in a
series of clashes across the country over public and private vaccination
mandates.
New York City's uniformed workers, including sanitation workers, have
staged several protests this week, including one on Thursday outside the
mayor's official residence. Many have said consideration should be given
for the so-called natural immunity of those who have had COVID, which
the firefighters' union says includes 70% of its members.
City health officials have said that while research has yet to determine
the degree of immunity that previous COVID infections yield, it is
widely agreed that vaccines increase protection - even for those who
have been infected.
De Blasio said only 76% of the uniformed workers facing the deadline
have received at least one dose of a vaccine, compared with 86% of city
workers overall. He said the lowest rate was among Fire Department
employees at 64%, while nearly three-quarters of police employees have
complied.
He stressed, however, that he expects those rates to rise significantly
by Monday.
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![](../images/103021pics/news_c39.jpg)
FDNY-Uniformed Fire Officers Association President James McCarthy
speaks to the media next to New York City Fire Department (FDNY)
Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) President Andrew Ansbro
during a news conference as the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate
deadline approaches at Ladder Co. 24 in Manhattan, New York City,
New
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The mayor pointed to earlier mandate deadlines for
other New York state and city workers that prompted a rush for
last-minute vaccinations by healthcare and education workers as the
reality set in that their paychecks were about to stop coming.
"And then suddenly it becomes really clear what they have to do," de
Blasio told reporters on Thursday.
By the time a vaccination requirement for state healthcare workers
kicked in on Sept. 27, Governor Kathy Hochul reported that 92% of
hospital employees had gotten at least one dose and 85% were fully
vaccinated, up from 77% a month earlier.
Thousands of city teachers and other school employees also waited
until the final days before an Oct. 1 deadline, de Blasio said, with
96% of them currently vaccinated.
Police and fire unions have filed lawsuits against the mandate. The
Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, which
represents 24,000 officers, lost a bid earlier this week for a court
order to halt the deadline, but has taken its request to a state
appeals court where it is still pending.
The courts have generally not been sympathetic to efforts to block
vaccine mandates.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor rejected a request by
four teachers and teaching assistants to block the city's Oct. 1
mandate for school workers. And Justice Amy Coney Barrett in August
denied a bid by Indiana University students to block that school's
vaccine mandate.
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In Chicago, a federal judge will rule by Monday on a request by a
group of firefighters and other city workers to halt vaccine
mandates ordered by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Governor J.B.
Pritzker, both Democrats.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis
and Daniel Wallis)
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