NYC unions demand reinstatement and non-payment of wages for workers fired for refusing COVID shots: ‘Make these people whole’

New York City public sector unions are redoubling efforts to reinstate their members with debt payments if they were fired for refusing to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19.

The renewed push for reinstatement came in response to Mayor Adams’ announcement on Monday that his administration would waive the city government’s longstanding coronavirus vaccine mandate later this week.

Under Adams’ mandate rollback plan, city workers fired for not being vaccinated against the coronavirus will have the opportunity to reapply for their old jobs, but municipal labor committee chairman Harry Nespoli said that was not enough.

Nespoli, who is also head of the largest union, the Department of Sanitation, argued that all city workers laid off because of the mandate should automatically return to their jobs and receive wage arrears to make up for the time they spent without income.

The municipal labor committee, which is the umbrella for all of the city’s various public sector unions, is considering legal action to achieve this, Nespoli said.

“I will take every possible legal action to get these people cured,” Nespoli told the Daily News on Tuesday.

Mayor Eric Adams

Oren Barzilai, president of Local 2507, the union representing FDNY EMT, agreed with Nespoli that laid-off city workers do not need to go through the re-application process.

“We have stripped people of their dignity, stripped them of their constitutional rights, and violated their beliefs. People have lost jobs, families and homes for things that are no longer required,” said Barzilai, who estimated that 37 of his members were either fired or forced to resign due to the refusal to vaccinate.

“They should be given immediate reinstatement to keep their wages and seniority. They’ve been through enough. It’s the least the city can do.”

Even before Monday’s announcement, public sector workers had secured several lawsuits over the vaccination mandate.

In October, a Staten Island judge ruled that the city should reinstate — with debt paid — a group of Department of Sanitation workers who were disciplined for refusing to vaccinate. In September, a Manhattan judge issued a similar ruling against a group of unvaccinated NYPD officers fired under similar circumstances.

The Adams administration is appealing both of those decisions, and a spokesman for the mayor confirmed Tuesday that it will continue to do so despite the withdrawal of the mandate.

“Important legal interests are at stake,” the spokesman said. “The City must protect its ability to both mandate and fire non-compliant employees going forward.”

Municipal Labor Committee Chairman Harry Nespoli

In all likelihood, Nespoli said, the city’s organized unions will continue to pursue these claims, rather than filing new ones, as part of their drive to secure wage arrears and the reinstatement of laid-off workers.

About 1,780 municipal employees were fired for violating the vaccination mandate, which was first implemented by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in November 2021, as COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the city, according to Adams’ office. Adams’ office did not provide information about which agencies these employees worked for.

Hundreds more workers are believed to have been granted exemptions to the vaccination mandate, under which they either went on vacation or worked remotely. These staff members are expected to be able to return to their posts in full once the mandate is officially lifted on Friday.

Some public health experts argue that the fact that the pandemic is not over is being lost in the heated labor dispute over the vaccine mandate. According to the Department of Health, an average of 11 people die in the city from COVID-19 each day, and vaccination rates have remained stagnant, with only 14% of residents reporting having received bivalent vaccinations.

However, Nespoli said vaccination should be an option and argued it would be best if the city stuck to the system it supported early on in the pandemic, under which workers were told to either get vaccinated or get tested weekly. .

Nespoli said at least 28 members of his union, the Sanitary Department, were fired for failing to get vaccinated. “Let’s get these people back to work if they want to,” he said.

Paul DiGiacomo, president of the NYPD Charities Association, said his union shared that sentiment.

“In a crime city that needs detectives, the members of our union should be returned to their earned rank in the unit they were assigned to before they were kicked out and collect all their wages owed,” DiGiacomo said.

Hundreds of municipal employees fired for failure to comply with instructions are allegedly employees of the education department.

A spokeswoman for the United Federation of Teachers, the Education Department’s largest union, declined to say whether the union was considering filing legal action in light of Monday’s Adams announcement.

But a spokeswoman welcomed the announcement, saying it puts municipal employees in the same position as private sector workers, who used to be under a vaccination mandate until Adams lifted it in September.

“We work with [Education Department] to ensure policy changes are in line with our contract,” the spokeswoman said.

Andrew Ansbrough, president of the Association of Uniformed Firefighters, an FDNY rank and file union, said the mandate put his agency at serious risk because, in addition to the 18 members fired for refusing to vaccinate, “several hundred” retired in protest.

UVA President Andrew Ansbrough outside the Gracie mansion at a protest against the vaccination mandate in October 2021.

“There are very few personnel in the FDNY. We are at a crisis level,” he said. “Our members work a lot of overtime, which causes a lot of stress for our members and their families. We hope they return as soon as possible.”

The Ansbro union has filed several lawsuits demanding reinstatement and unpaid wages. He said he would continue to pursue these lawsuits.

A uniformed firefighters association source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to be candid, suggested that Adams turned down the mandate because the city’s prospects in court look bleak.

“The lawsuits were going well and he didn’t want to be on the losing side,” the source said. “So now that the lawsuits are settled, it will all be water under the bridge.”

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