Union Leaders Buck NYC School COVID Vaccine Mandate

NEW YORK CITY — Labor leaders cried foul over New York City's upcoming coronavirus vaccine mandate for all public school staff.

The powerful DC37 union will file an unfair labor practice complaint over the city's Sept. 27 vaccine mandate for school staff, Henry Garrido, the union's executive director announced.

“While we strongly encourage our members to get vaccinated, we do not believe that the City has the legal authority to change the terms and conditions of employment without bargaining. District Council 37, along with a coalition of unions that make up the Municipal Labor Committee, will file an Unfair Labor Practices compliant over the City’s failure to bargain," Garrido said in a statement.

Garrido's announcement appeared to catch Mayor Bill de Blasio — who unveiled the policy earlier Monday — off guard.

De Blasio, when asked about the lawsuit on NY1's "Inside City Hall," said he spoke with labor leaders beforehand told them the city would begin impact bargaining "immediately."

"I understand their job is to defend the interest of their unions, but I'm confused myself because when I said this morning in the press conference, we will immediately be going to go to bargaining, I thought that was pretty clear," he said.

The public school vaccination mandate would apply to roughly 148,000 teachers, principals and other staff. Unlike previous mandates, they don't have an option to submit to regular COVID-19 testing instead of getting the vaccine.

De Blasio said the mandate is necessary to protect students and prevent the highly contagious delta variant's spread. He also hinted that a wider mandate for city staff could be coming, especially now that the Pfizer vaccine has full FDA approval.

Municipal union leaders have largely encouraged their members to get vaccinated, but adoption has been spotty. Roughly 63 percent of school staff are vaccinated, whereas more than 75 percent of all New York City adults have received at least one dose of vaccine.

The New York City Municipal Labor Committee, which represents some 350,000 City employees, voted Monday to take legal action to require city officials to begin bargaining over implementation of its school vaccination policy.

Harry Nespoli, chair of the Municipal Labor Committee, said in a statement that the city's "unilateral action" will only delay the school vaccination policy.

“Our members’ bargaining rights in this situation must be preserved," he said. "We are willing to discuss the steps for implementation as well as situations where accommodations would be appropriate."