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A group of city employees plan to walk from City Hall to Washington Square Park on Sunday to demand that the city delay full return to the office until January, develop a strong telecommuting policy, and institute a remote option for students.
Henry Garrido, executive director of the city’s largest public union, District Council 37, said he had repeatedly asked the mayor to push back the return-to-work date, but had yet to got response. If the city goes ahead, his union will consider its legal options, he said.
New York is not the first city to force workers to return to the office full time. The city of Houston, which has 22,000 office workers, brought them back full-time over the summer, according to Mary Benton, a city spokesperson. Chicago’s 5,500 office workers returned to the office five days a week in late spring, with a few exceptions by telecommuting.
New York State employees were due to return to office full-time earlier this week, but Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed that back to October 12; the state’s approximately 130,000 workers will need to be vaccinated or tested every week.
Mr Garrido said he was concerned about the ability of workers to maintain social distancing and that he did not understand the need to bring people who perform well back to the office while working from home.
“For me, this is crazy,” Mr. Garrido said in an interview. “Because at this point there is a new reality. “
Harry Nespoli, chairman of the municipal labor committee, an umbrella organization of unions that includes uniformed staff, said his organization met with city officials last Wednesday and warned them that if the mayor imposed a more vaccine mandate robust which did not include a testing option, it would initiate legal action.
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