The overreaching Democrat Chicago Mayor Lightfoot who gave Chicago Police officers until December 31st to be “fully vaccinated,” or be put on non-pay status, just got a bit of bad news from a Cook County judge.
On Oct 12, Chicago Police FOP President John Catanzara appeared in a video where he told union members to NOT fill out the portal to report their vaccine status on a city website in response to Democrat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Oct 15th deadline.
In his address to Chicago Police officers, Catanzara explained that unlike the City of Chicago, the FOP will accept religious, medical, conscientious exemptions from members. The FOP president told members that he will also refuse to fill out the portal, knowing that he will be docked without pay, as a way to stand in solidarity with members who refuse to share their vaccine status.
Yesterday, a Cook County, IL judge suspended Lori Lightfoot’s COVID jab mandate for Chicago police officers until a lawsuit between the City of Chicago and the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police is settled.
Epoch Times reports – Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell granted a partial temporary restraining order, requiring that the city cannot enforce the Dec. 31 deadline for CPD officers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but said that “the reporting and testing obligations”—or testing twice a week under city policy—still remain in effect
Disputes over vaccinations should be handled as a labor grievance with an arbitrator, Mitchell said.
“The reporting obligation itself is a minimal intrusion, particularly considering that police officers already are obligated to provide medical information to their employer,” Mitchell wrote.
“The effect of this order is to send these parties back to the bargaining table and to promote labor peace by allowing them to pursue” remedies under Illinois law, the judge added.
City workers who fail to meet the deadlines will be put on a no-pay status, Lightfoot’s administration said in announcing the mandate weeks ago.
“The principal risk to those who are unvaccinated is to themselves and to others who choose to be unvaccinated,” the judge said.
