Biden meets resistance from unions over vaccine demand

Influential public sector unions push back a new vaccination requirement for federal workers in rare split with the Biden administration.

President BidenJoe Biden CDC chief clarifies vaccine comments: “There will be no nationwide warrant” Night defense: First group of Afghan evacuees arrive in Virginia | Biden signs Capitol Hill security funding bill and reimburses custody | Pentagon raises level of health protection weeks after lowering it Biden urges local governments to avoid evictions MOREthe last vaccination campaign of, announced Thursday, requires federal employees to certify that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo masking, social distancing and weekly testing.

While labor groups representing government workers have urged their members to get vaccinated, most major public sector unions are either opposing the vaccine requirement or saying it must first be negotiated.

Groups representing educators, postal workers, law enforcement officials, Treasury Department staff and other government employees have expressed unease over the vaccine requirement this week. Only a few unions in the public sector have outright approved the measure.

“We expect the details of any changes to working conditions, including those related to COVID-19 vaccines and associated protocols, to be properly negotiated with our bargaining units prior to implementation,” Everett Kelley, President of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents nearly 700,000 workers, said in a statement.

Larry Cosme, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said that requiring vaccinations “is not the American way and is a flagrant violation of civil rights, no matter how supporters may seek to justify it.”

National Union of Treasury Employees president Tony Reardon said in a statement that the group had “a lot of questions about how this policy will be implemented and how the rights and privacy of employees will be protected.”

Most of the public sector unions who have expressed concern over the new vaccine rule have endorsed Biden’s candidacy for election in 2020 and applauded his overall efforts to strengthen a federal workforce than the former. President TrumpDonald Trump Meghan McCain Democrats ‘Should Give Trump Some Credit’ For COVID-19 Vaccine Trump Testing Tsar Warns Blockages Could Be On The Table If People Don’t Get Vaccinated Overnight Health Care: The Tsar Warns CDC Details Massachusetts Outbreak That Triggered Mask Update | White House says national vaccine mandate “not under review at this time” MORE often the target of criticism and spending cuts.

But their support for Biden does not extend to his vaccine rule, which does not apply to the much larger private sector.

“In order for everyone to feel safe and welcome in their workplace, vaccinations need to be negotiated between employers and workers, not coerced,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, in a statement. early this week. The group represents educators and health workers at various levels of government.

The American Postal Workers Union has said that “it is not the role of the federal government to impose vaccinations on the employees we represent” and that any new rules for its workers must be discussed with union leaders.

Experts say the unions’ responses are not entirely surprising.

“As a matter of principle, union leaders just don’t like what is called a ‘mandate’ that comes from management where they are excluded from the market,” said Daniel DiSalvo, professor and chair of political science at the Colin PowellThe Colin Luther PowellAnything-but-bipartisan 1/6 commission will seal Pelosi’s retirement. Here’s why Biden appointed Jane Hartley as UK ambassador: Donald Rumsfeld report: Anti-nation-builder MORE School at City College of New York-CUNY.

The White House predicted that the unions would want a seat at the table on the new requirement. The administration working group on occupational safety written in a memo On Thursday, “agencies are reminded to respect applicable collective bargaining obligations” when implementing new vaccine rules.

Still, demands from public sector unions could slow Biden’s federal vaccination campaign, and their resistance indicates that similar efforts by states and municipalities could also face roadblocks.

Mayor of New York Bill de BlasioBill de BlasioBiden Rolls the Dice in Becoming More Aggressive on Vaccines The Hill’s Morning Report – Brought to you by Facebook – Biden Sets New Vaccine Mandate As COVID-19 Cases Rise On The Money: Biden Calls on Congress to Extend ban on deportation with days until expiration | Economic growth reached 6.5% year on year in the second quarter MORE (D) announced earlier this week that city workers are to get vaccinated or tested every week. He quickly encountered resistance from unions representing first responders, who said about half of their members were vaccinated, which is below the city average.

“The internal structure of unions imposes this kind of responsiveness on members,” said DiSalvo. “If you are a union leader, you have to represent all employees.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest union of public servants in the country, did not respond to a request for comment on its position on vaccine requirements.

A handful of national unions backed Biden’s order this week. The American Foreign Service Association, a union that represents foreign service officers, welcomed the measure, citing last month Covid-19 epidemic at the United States Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a union that represents 25,000 federal workers at NASA, the Department of Justice, the Government Accountability Office and other agencies, also backed Biden’s order.

“We do not believe that our members or their mission should be endangered by those who have hesitated to shoot,” Paul Shearon, chairman of the group, said in a statement.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Tuesday approved a mask mandate in an interview with C-SPAN, contradicting some of its member unions.

“If you come back and are not vaccinated, everyone in this workplace is in danger,” he said. “If we don’t know if you have been vaccinated or not, we cannot take the appropriate steps to make sure you are protected and everyone is protected. “

Biden’s order would affect millions of workers between federal employees and government contractors. Earlier this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs obligatory his frontline health workers to get vaccinated, and Biden asked the Pentagon to examine “how and when” the military will need to be vaccinated.

“With incentives and warrants, we can make a huge difference and save a lot of lives,” Biden said in a speech Thursday.

The emergency comes as the highly contagious delta variant spreads quickly in areas of the United States with low vaccination rates.

Biden wants the private sector to follow his lead and encourage the remaining 31 percent of American adults who have yet to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Several companies have announced vaccination warrants in recent weeks, including Google, Shake Shack, Netflix, Morgan Stanley and Delta Air Lines.