The head of Chicago’s police union said that thousands of officers are willing to walk off the job and leave the city with inadequate law enforcement protection in protest of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s mandate that all city employees get vaccinated for COVID-19.
In a press conference on Monday, Lightfoot announced that vaccines “are absolutely going to be required” for city workers just hours after the FDA approved the Pfizer jab for people over the age of 16, which took it past its emergency use phase.
The decision also led the Pentagon to order all personnel to get the vaccine as well, as some private sector companies including Goldman Sachs and Delta Airlines joined as well.
In addition, President Joe Biden had previously signed an executive order requiring all two million-plus federal employees to get the shot as well or follow a regular COVID testing plan.
During her press conference, Lightfoot said her administration was still discussing the issue with city unions representing the 33,000-plus employees as to when a mandate would actually drop.
“We’re working through those discussions which have been ongoing now for a couple weeks with our colleagues in organized labor that represent city employees,” Lightfoot told reporters. “But we absolutely have to have a vaccine mandate.”
However, police union head John Catanzara said thousands of his members would stay home if Lightfoot signs a mandate order.
“This vaccine has no studies for long-term side effects or consequences. None,” he said. “To mandate anybody to get that vaccine, without that data as a baseline, amongst other issues, is a ‘Hell, no’ for us. We are 100 percent against mandated vaccines for our members.”
In a follow-up interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Catanzara made it clear that he isn’t just speaking for himself or the rank-and-file officers.
“It ain’t just our guys. It’s the sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. This is a united front,” he told the paper Wednesday. “It’s no longer John Catanzara’s big mouth like they like to spin it all the time.”
He then indicated that thousands of fellow officers are ready to walk out if need be in protest of the mandate.
“This has literally lit a bomb underneath the membership. … And what are they gonna do when four or five thousand coppers say, ‘Screw you. I’m staying home. You’re not making me get this f**king vaccination. Don’t pay me. That’s fine. We’ll see you in court,” he said.
“You’re not gonna pay me. You’re gonna make me stay home. But you’re gonna have thousands of coppers willing to stay home, not getting paid to not get a vaccine and then, what are you gonna do for manpower on the streets?” he asked.
Nevertheless, federal health officials predicted that once the FDA approved the vaccines there would be a flood of mandates from government and private industry.
“You’re gonna see a lot more [vaccine] mandates because there will be institutions and organizations which previously were reluctant to require vaccinations, which will now feel much more empowered to do that,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s lead immunologist and Biden administration chief medical adviser, said following the FDA’s action earlier this week.
“That could be organizations, businesses, colleges, universities. We’re even seeing it with the military already,” he added.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
Jon@bizpacreview.com
Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
- Jan. 6 committee chair Benny Thompson offers a stunning take on potential Trump criminal actions - January 2, 2022
- Life-long New Yorker posts ‘sad’ Twitter ode on post-pandemic Big Apple being ‘shadow of its former self’ - January 2, 2022
- NYPD officer shot in head in police lot as he slept in vehicle between shifts - January 2, 2022
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
