Judge Raymond W. Mitchell temporarily suspended Chicgao’s COVID vaccine mandate for police unions. However, he upheld the requirement of a CPD officer reporting their vaccine status and multiple weekly COVID tests.
The ruling applies only to police unions. It does not apply to other city workers.
Mitchell concluded that the reporting requirement “is a minimal intrusion particularly considering that police officers are already obligated to provide medical information to their employer.”
But Mitchell found a problem with the mandate and the December 31, 2021, deadline:
“Obey now, grieve later” is not possible. If every union member complied and was vaccinated by December 31 (or otherwise exempt), they would have no grievance to pursue and there would be no remedy an arbitrator could award. An award of back pay or reinstatement cannot undo a vaccine Nothing can. If that aspect of the City’s policy was found to violate the collective bargaining agreements, the arbitral process could not restore the parties to their original positions. An award in favor of the police unions would be an “empty victory.” Schwartz, 343 Ill. App. 3d at 561. “Obey now, grieve later” would be transformed into “obey now and forever” – without a meaningful opportunity to arbitrate. That constitutes irreparable injury.
In other words, Chicago and the police unions have to come together to discuss vaccine mandates becoming a requirement for employment.
“This absence of meaningful arbitration is not just an injury to members, it is also an injury to the union itself,” Mitchell concluded. “It undermines the unions’ collective bargaining power and risks diminishing the union in the eyes of its members. The policy underpinning labor law is the promotion of labor peace by encouraging negotiation and bargaining and providing a meaningful form to resolve disputes.”
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown recently threatened to deny retirement benefits to cops who choose to retire instead of complying with the vaccine mandate.
Brown said he will not “comment on wins or losses” when it comes to Mitchell’s ruling: “But what I will say is we’ll proceed with our protocols to get our officers in the portal and to ensure if they’re not vaccinated, that we make the case that vaccination saves lives.”
For some reason, Mayor Lori Lightfoot claimed Mitchell validated the city’s mandate: “If you look at what’s happening in court cases all across the country, whether it’s fire and police or others that are challenging these mandates, I’m not aware of a single instance in which a mandate put in place has been invalidated.”
Dude. Mitchell literally said you cannot force the police unions to get the vaccine.
If you care so much about public health and safety then mandate ALL vaccines. I prefer nobody mandate any vaccine, but hey. (This is coming from someone who loves all vaccines and hopes you get it!) Stop treating COVID as something special when the flu is deadly to compromised people like me.
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