NYC: Is Safety Being Sacrificed?

In the Spring of 2020, every evening at 7pm Manhattanites would lean out their windows or stand on their balconies banging pots and pans, blowing horns, applauding, and making any cheering noise they could acknowledging New York City’s first responders just for doing their job. At that time, an ambulance siren would sound every ten minutes for a victim of Covid 19.  The ambulance drivers and EMT’s of New York City worked continuously during the peak of the pandemic. Now, those first responders, firemen, police officers, and sanitation workers are just some of the New York City employees protesting a vaccine mandate put into place by New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio. The mandate takes effect at 5pm on Friday, October 29.  If any of the 160 thousand employees of the city of New York do not comply with the vaccination requirement they won’t be getting a paycheck. According to The New York Times, the head of New York’s Emergency Medical Service’s worker’s union, Oren Barzilay said: “The mayor seems to have forgotten the sacrifices we made during the pandemic.” Mayor de Blasio insists if there is a shortfall of workers, vacations will be canceled, and workers who have complied with the mandate will be forced to work overtime.

Up until October 20, it was acceptable for city workers to get tested weekly as opposed to getting vaccinated. This past Thursday, NYC Municipal workers protested outside Gracie Mansion, de Blasio’s official residence. The protesters insisted they’re not anti-vaccine, just anti-mandate. The mayor is enforcing the mandate saying that as of Monday, November 1, if any unvaccinated municipal worker shows up for work, they will be put on unpaid leave. Mayor de Blasio is offering a $500 bonus for any worker who gets vaccinated before the deadline.

As of Friday, October 29, 2021, 80% of the New York City Police Force has been vaccinated and 72% of New York City Firemen have complied with the mandate. New York City has the largest fire department in the United States. Both the Uniformed Fireman’s Association, the firefighter’s union, and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the NYPD union, filed lawsuits trying to prevent the mandate. Their lawsuits were rejected by a state judge. The main complaint was that the city gave municipal workers only 9 days to get vaccinated. Now, the unions are in negotiations for an extension.

But New York City is already starting to see the effects of a slowdown by municipal workers.  Parts of the city are lacking timely garbage pick-up and the head of the New York City Detectives union (The Detective’s Endowment Association) Paul DiGiacomo, has predicted a possible mass retirement. “It won’t be easy to obtain and replace those people,” he said in an interview on NY’s 1010 WINS news radio. DiGiacomo also said de Blasio is enforcing the mandate for his own “political purpose.”

TrialSiteNews has reported on Chicago’s vaccine mandate for their police department and the questions about safety in Chicago where the murder rate has climbed 56%. The Chicago mandate has already resulted in about two dozen firefighters and EMT’s being placed on a “no pay” status. In the meantime, the Chicago Police Union is still challenging the mandate in court.

Like Chicago, New York City is now facing a potential safety problem. Now that a vaccine is mandated in New York, the same questions asked about Chicago are now applicable to New York. What’s more important, vaccine mandates or protecting the public?