City Council Speaker Corey Johnson knocked obstinate labor unions resisting the city’s vaccine mandates, arguing Thursday they are essential for protecting the Big Apple’s workforce and all New Yorkers.
“The unions have to look out for their employees, and I’m not going to get in the way of them doing what they think they have to do — but, ultimately, I think people need to be vaccinated,” Johnson told reporters outside City Hall.
“People have different reasons, but I don’t support opposing mandates, so I don’t agree with the unions on that,” he added. “I think there should be mandates in place to protect those employees, but also to protect the wider public.”
Also Thursday, Johnson said that he supports City Hall enacting a vaccine requirement for students over the age of 12 — a measure Mayor Bill de Blasio has opposed.
“I believe in vaccine mandates, so, I think, yes, there should be a vaccine mandate,” he said. “We have vaccine mandates for the measles, mumps, the MMR.”
“I think that’s the direction we have to head in. We have to get people vaccinated.”
His answer comes on the heels of de Blasio saying earlier Thursday that a vaccine requirement for students 12 and over — who are currently eligible for a coronavirus shot, unlike younger students — isn’t “the right thing to do.”
“The most important thing is getting kids back to school,” he said during his daily press briefing, held remotely from City Hall.
Earlier, newly sworn-in Lt. Gov Brian Benjamin was noncommittal on if he supports a mandatory vaccine rule for all kids in schools eligible for the shot.
“As the governor has mentioned, all options are on the table, and I agree with her wholeheartedly and we’ll work with her, offer my opinions to her as we move forward,” he said in response to a question from The Post.
“But let’s be clear, you know, and we also have an issue with 12-to-17 year-olds, getting the vaccines as well. We want everyone vaccinated, the governor wants all options on the table,” he added.
Meanwhile, days ahead of Monday’s start of the school year, the United Federation of Teachers is readying for a battle with City Hall over the consequences for the roughly 15,000 educators who have yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Teachers union head Michael Mulgrew said last week that City Hall has said it will remove all unvaccinated staffers from payroll without exception, lamenting that talks with city honchos had entered “a very bad place.”
“It’s clear that the two sides are very very far apart when it comes to this vaccine mandate,” Mulgrew told reporters on Sept. 2 following a Town Hall with members.
Public school students and their parents have their own set of concerns.
Norma Elkantar, a parent of a fifth grader, is worried about unvaccinated teachers in classrooms because her son isn’t eligible to be protected against COVID-19. She told The Post Thursday morning she hopes all teachers get their shots.
“That makes us concerned, because all these kids under 12 are not vaccinated, so we just want to make sure that the atmosphere around them and the surroundings are 100% clear,” said Elkantar, 40. “So hopefully the teachers and everybody above 12 will be fully vaccinated.”
Her son, Joseph Elkantar, said he fears contracting the bug.
“When I come home from school, I see people not wearing masks, not taking it seriously,” said the 10-year-old. “So I hope they take it seriously one day, because I don’t want to get sick and I’m sure nobody wants to get COVID.”
De Blasio has ramped up vaccine rules on the city workforce in recent weeks. First, he required that all municipal workers either get vaccinated or face weekly testing — and then tightened the mandate for teachers and other employees at the Department of Education, ending the test-out option.
Mulgrew has conceded de Blasio’s DOE mandate would inevitably go into effect, but he has complained about the implementation details and other aspects of the policy.
Other labor leaders — including those who represent other parts of the DOE’s workforce — took a far harder line, announcing in late August they would challenge the new stricter vaccination requirements in court.
“Many of the unions support and urge their members to be vaccinated. However, the city is required to collectively bargain the steps to be taken for implementing this policy,” Harry Nespoli, chair of the Municipal Labor Committee, said on Aug. 23 — the day de Blasio rolled out the one vaccine dose by Sept. 27 rule.
Henry Garrido, head of District Council 37, claimed the city lacks the authority “to change the terms and conditions of employment without bargaining.”
Two days later, the city’s largest police union told its members it would sue the city if cops were required to get a vaccine.
“If the City attempts to impose a vaccine mandate on PBA members, we will take legal action to defend our members’ right to make such personal medical decisions,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch wrote in an email.
