Chicago police union president vows to rally against city vaccine mandate
CHICAGO - At least one city employee union is ready for a fight with Mayor Lori Lightfoot over mandatory vaccines.
John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the union is "100% against any mandate."
Lightfoot announced yesterday that city workers will "absolutely" be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 even though negotiations with employee unions are on-going.
But the FOP is promising to go to court over any vaccine mandate.
"We’re not going to be okay with subjecting our members to a vaccine that has not had extensive studies with side effects specifically," said Catanzara.
He called this a "hell no" for the FOP.
Lightfoot has not yet said when the mandate would take affect or what would happen to workers who refuse to get the shot.
She says this new requirement, coming after Pfizer got federal approval for the vaccine, is all about safety.
There is still a lot of disagreement over whether vaccines should be her decision.
"Let them do it on their own free will" said one woman in the Loop this morning. "I still haven’t done it."
"The vaccine is very effective and for whatever the reasons are a lot of people are hesitant to take the vaccine," another passerby said. "I think If they are required to, maybe they’ll rethink it."
Catanzara said he will meet with city attorneys and the union's director of labor relations Tuesday at 3 p.m. and plans to talk to reporters afterward.