Workers who were unjustly fired in New York City, for refusing to inject the COVID-19 Kool-Aid, are demanding to get their jobs back. They want all the back pay they’re entitled to as well. There isn’t much city officials can say in response since all the migrant kids are in school without proof of any shots at all.
Workers want reinstatement
New York City workers came unglued when Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday, February 6, that they plan to “drop the city government’s longstanding coronavirus vaccine mandate later this week.” All of “New York City’s public-sector unions,” local outlets are reporting, have banded together.
They’re “doubling down on a quest to get their members reinstated with back pay if they were fired for refusing to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19.”
Mayor Adams already expressed willingness to compromise on the issue. Under his “mandate rollback plan,” any city workers who got terminated “for not getting their coronavirus shots would have a chance to reapply for their old jobs.”
NYC trash pile-up caused by union sanitation workers protesting vaccine mandates.
"Look, you're going to have some spots in the city that they feel very strongly about this," Teamsters Local 831 President Harry Nespoli said. https://t.co/KP2XjP3n6q
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) November 3, 2021
Municipal Labor Committee Chairman Harry Nespoli vocalized what’s on everyone’s mind in reply. “That’s not good enough.”
Along with his chairmanship of the committee, Nespoli “serves as head of the Sanitation Department’s largest union.” That means he has some clout. Garbage strikes are nasty things.
He argued that “all city workers axed because of the mandate should be automatically given their jobs back and awarded back pay to compensate for the time they went without income.” Sidelined employees say, that sounds more like it.
Weighing legal action
The Municipal Labor Committee “serves as the umbrella representative for all of the city’s various public-sector unions.” They represent public sector workers across the board from the sanitation department, to teachers, to nurses.
Nespoli, as chairman, is “weighing legal action to get that done.” A whole bunch of it, if necessary. “I’m going to take all legal action I can to make these people whole.” He has lots of support.
One of those in his corner is Oren Barzilay, president of Local 2507. That’s “the union representing FDNY EMTs.” He agrees 100 percent that “fired city workers shouldn’t have to go through a reapplication process.” Not after what the City did to his members.
NYC trash pile-up caused by union sanitation workers protesting vaccine mandates.
"Look, you're going to have some spots in the city that they feel very strongly about this," Teamsters Local 831 President Harry Nespoli said. https://t.co/KP2XjP3n6q
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) November 3, 2021
The administration “stripped away people’s dignity, stripped away their constitutional rights, and violated their beliefs. People lost their jobs, their families and their homes for something that’s no longer required.” He has around 37 members who “were either fired or forced to resign because of refusing to get vaccinated.”
Ordinary Americans need a voice in big city politics and that’s where the council comes in. “They should be afforded an immediate reinstatement, to maintain their wages and seniority. They went through enough. That’s the least the city can do.” Adams and the City Council are well aware that the disgruntled employees have them over a barrel.
“Even before Monday’s announcement, public-sector workers had racked up several court victories over the vaccine mandate issue.” One of those was in favor of Nespoli’s Sanitation crews. “A Staten Island judge ruled in October that the city should reinstate — with back pay — a group of Sanitation Department workers who got the boot for refusing inoculations.“
