NYC employee unions bash Mayor Adams’ plan to roll back COVID vaccine mandates for athletes but not cops, teachers
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It’s a slam dunk for Kyrie Irving — and still a potential pink slip for city workers.
The NYPD’s biggest union slammed Mayor Adams’ plan to lift the city’s private-sector vaccine mandate for athletes and performers, charging the city created a double-standard to clear the Brooklyn Nets unvaccinated star for action inside the Barclays Center even as nine police officers who declined to get jabbed were fired.
“If the mandate isn’t necessary for famous people, then it’s not necessary for the cops who are protecting our city in the middle of a crime crisis,” fumed Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch in a Thursday statement.
By lifting the mandate, Adams will allow Irving to play at his first home games of the NBA season and unvaccinated players with the Yankees and Mets to suit up at Yankee Stadium and CitiField when the baseball season starts.
“I’m not surprised,” said Lieutenants Benevolent Association head Lou Turco. “It is hypocritical to allow an athlete not to get vaccinated while forcing police officers to get vaccinated to keep their jobs. We’re told the vaccination mandate is necessary because they’re following the science.
“Where is the science that supports immunity if you’re able to make free throws or throw a baseball 95 miles an hour?”
NYPD officials said another 37 civilian employees were dismissed along with the uniformed officers of different ranks.
Irving signed a four-year, $136 million contract with the Nets in 2019, while a rookie police officer’s starting salary is $42,000 a year.
A United Federation of Teachers spokeswoman echoed the police unions’ opposition.
“The city should not create exceptions to its vaccination requirements without compelling reason,” the spokeswoman said. “If the rules are going to be suspended, particularly for people with influence, then the UFT and other city unions are ready to discuss how exceptions could be applied to city workers.”
Only city-based pro athletes and performers are exempt with the private sector mandate remaining in effect for other businesses.
The Broadway League, representing 41 city theaters, said it will continue its current plan to require vaccinations for audience members, performers, backstage crew and theater staff through at least the end of April.
“Broadway theaters anticipate no change in our protocols based on this announcement,” said League President Charlotte St. Martin. “We continue to evaluate our COVID safety protocols for audiences, cast and crew, in concert with our unions and medical experts.”
Lynch and other police unions have repeatedly sued the city over the public employee vaccination mandate that went into effect on Oct. 29 requiring all NYPD officers to get the life-saving jab or be sent home without pay. Some 5,000 cops who requested exemptions for medical or religious reasons remained on the job while awaiting a final determination on their cases.
Lynch called the vaccine mandate “arbitrary and capricious” — something he says Adams is proving by rolling back the private sector mandate for sports stars.
“This is exactly what we are talking about,” he said. “While celebrities were in lockdown, New York City police officers were on the street throughout the pandemic, working without adequate PPE and in many cases contracting and recovering from COVID themselves. They don’t deserve to be treated like second-class citizens now.”
Restrictions for performers and athletes in local venues will be rescinded in time for Opening Day at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, a move which will keep the city’s unvaccinated baseball players from missing home games like Irving did for not getting the shot.
The decision comes on the heels of Adams’ announcement Tuesday that he plans to lift the mask mandate for toddlers in city daycare centers on April 4.
“Talented detectives with irreplaceable experience were lost because of the mandate,” said Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detective’s Endowment Association. “Athletes and performers more important during a crime wave than NYPD detectives? He must be kidding.”
