Chicago aldermen push for special meeting on vaccine mandate that has prompted lawsuits, police union defiance

More than a dozen Chicago aldermen have filed notice to force a special meeting of the City Council later this week to undo Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate on city workers.

Under City Council rules, any three aldermen can call a special meeting to discuss ordinance proposals or other issues. Southwest Side Ald. Silvana Tabares, 23rd, has been leading an effort to repeal Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate and give the City Council a vote on vaccination rules and consequences for breaking them. She signed the letter calling for the special meeting, along with mostly Northwest and Southwest Side aldermen whose wards include many city workers.

“To my colleagues who want to get more people vaccinated, I agree (with you),” Tabares tweeted. “But what makes more people willing to get vaccinated? 50 alders who pass a policy based on collaboration and inclusion, or 1 mayor who has stormed off from the bargaining table & issue.”

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It’s not certain the meeting will take place, however. A majority of aldermen would have to show up, meaning at least 26 of the council’s 50 members.

Lightfoot announced in August that each of the city’s more than 30,000 workers must be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Oct. 15, following numerous cities across the U.S. As the deadline approached, Lightfoot pressured city workers with unspecified “consequences” if they did not meet the vaccination cutoff.

After the back-and-forth with the police union, Lightfoot agreed on Oct. 8 to allow city workers to remain unvaccinated until the end of the year — if they submit to twice-weekly testing at their own expense.

But Lightfoot then drew a line in the sand, saying all city workers must fill out the city portal form reporting their status, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated, or be placed on a no-pay status.

Aldermen introduced an ordinance last week calling for Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate to be voided and requiring City Council approval for “all policies, rules and regulations governing discipline of city employees.”

The police union and a separate group of city workers have filed court actions challenging the vaccine mandate. As of earlier this week, 23 police officers had been sidelined without pay for refusing to report their vaccine status.