Replies to post #405285 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

It's a legacy fuck up too. The politicization of the pandemic response lives on in the specious objections to mitigation measures and, especially, the junk science driven attacks on vaxxes.

As of Tuesday, nearly a quarter of the Chicago Police Department’s 12,300 employees remained unvaccinated, according to city data. That compares with about 12% of the total city workforce.

COVID-19 vaccine mandate upheld for Chicago police; FOP president calls on officers to ‘hold the line’ but concedes they’re now ‘forced’ to get shots

By GREGORY PRATT, JOHN BYRNE and ALICE YIN
CHICAGO TRIBUNE |
FEB 23, 2022 AT 6:36 PM

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate for Chicago police officers was upheld by an arbitrator who rejected the Fraternal Order of Police’s grievances over the city’s rules, she announced at a news conference.

Lightfoot said she hopes the ruling will be a “signal for those members who are not yet vaccinated to get vaccinated.”

A visibly pleased Lightfoot made the announcement at her customary post-City Council meeting.

In a YouTube video posted Wednesday evening, John Catanzara, president of the local FOP chapter, signaled he would have more to say later this week but conceded the arbitrator did decide that “we will be forced to get the vaccine.”

”Stay tuned to that and hold the line,” said Catanzara, who earlier indicated he intends to run for mayor in 2023. “This mayor, this dictator — I can’t even call (her) a mayor anymore — is more concerned about this nonsense and taking a victory lap as this variant disappears. … She doesn’t care about crime. She don’t care about victims. She doesn’t care about anything but a win.”

The ruling sets a March 13 deadline for officers to receive a first dose of the shot, with a second shot due by April 13, though the ruling allows for extensions where someone has made a good-faith effort to get a first-shot appointment.

The vaccine rule led the city and the FOP to sue each other, with the union aiming to have the matter arbitrated and the city aiming to stop Catanzara from openly encouraging his members to defy the requirement that they report their vaccine status to the city. Some officers were placed on no-pay status for refusing to report.

The FOP succeeded in getting the matter in front of an arbitrator, and the city succeeded in persuading a judge to issue a temporary restraining order against Catanzara.

Arbitrator George Roumell — who also upheld the vaccine mandate for firefighters in December — said the city did not violate its collective bargaining agreements with the FOP and other police unions in laying out its COVID-19 vaccination policy last year.

The Police department and city have the right as employers to add such a requirement as long as it does not contradict the rest of the contract, he said.

”There is no language in any of the (agreements) that would prohibit the exercise of management rights by promulgating a COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” Roumell wrote.

Roumell also cited the toll of coronavirus on the Police Department, noting that six officers have died of the virus and more than 6,000 have tested positive.

The arbitrator also scuttled the unions’ argument that placing Chicago police members on no-pay status for refusing to report their vaccination status constituted discipline, which would require more arbitration.

He said “it is within the exclusive control” of the officer when they would regain their police powers and paycheck by reporting their vaccination status.

As of Tuesday, nearly a quarter of the Chicago Police Department’s 12,300 employees remained unvaccinated, according to city data. That compares with about 12% of the total city workforce.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-police-vaccine-mandate-upheld-fop-20220223-kcxqnhrjozfxdpqvc6nosfg2rq-story.html

[Zorax]

And then the oil companies, or oil propagandists come out with bullshit they can't find people to work. The very people they laid off good high paying jobs don't want to come back? The fact that they just turned off rigs on active taps and don't want to turn them on again?
We're getting raped in broad daylight and oil have hamstrung the government to do anything about a private industry monopoly ruining the average persons livelihood.

At over 4 per gallon at the pumps, it's already causing people to lose work because their pay can't cover their travel to the jobs the full week. We were barely paying bills at 3.25 a gallon. At 2.50 most people can pay bills, but not put much in savings. Above 2.50 people can pretty much forget a decent travel vacation.