NYC Mayor Refuses To Reinstate Thousands of Fired Workers After Lifting Mandates
In a statement on Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) revealed that the city is ending the mandatory vaccine mandate for public employees. However, he has refused to give jobs back to the nearly 2,000 workers who were fired for refusing to comply, instead saying that they will have to reapply for their positions — forcing them to lose their seniority and denying them back pay.
Despite the fact that removing the mandates is essentially an admission that the vaccine is not effective, as employees will no longer be required to take it, Adams continues to refuse to do the right thing.
As Red State notes, “It’s exactly this kind of capricious and cruel response that has made so many Americans distrustful” of these pandemic-related policies “from the Federal Government to the local level.”
Adams released a statement in a tweet, which noted that “more than 96 percent of city workers and more than 80 percent of New Yorkers” have taken the experimental vaccine — and it will now be “Optional for City Workers.”
In his statement, the Democrat mayor claimed that “this is the right moment for this decision.”
Meanwhile, critics argue that the “right moment” for the decision was a long time ago, after the vaccine — which is still not FDA approved and is being doled out under an “emergency use authorization” — was shown to not protect against transmission of the virus. These mandates were continued in NYC despite the proven lack of efficacy, and thus they “should never have been mandated in the first place,” Red State noted.
Nonetheless, Adams noted that he continues “to urge every New Yorker to get vaccinated, get boosted, and take the necessary steps to protect themselves and those around them.”
Critics say that the Democrat mayor has lost all credibility over these mandates, and his continued insistence that New Yorkers get vaccinated.
His refusal to give jobs back to the 1,780 city workers who were fired over the mandates also adds to critics’ concerns — especially as they are being denied back pay and being forced to reapply.
“But what about the 1,780 city workers who were summarily fired when they refused the shot?” Red State asked. “Well, they won’t get back pay, for starters, and they will have to reapply if they want their old positions back. If they’re rehired, will they start at the same salary they had when they were axed? Will they retain whatever rank or seniority they had earned? It’s not clear at this point… So much about the nation’s COVID policies on the federal, state, and local levels was outrageous and dictatorial, and firing thousands of people during one of the most trying times in their lives was flat-out wrong.”
The plight of a New York firefighter who was fired over the mandates was detailed in a recent article from the New York Post.
“Jairo Sosa, 37, who worked for 7 1/2-years as a firefighter before his ‘forced resignation,’ said he would love to get his job back. He has a wife and three young kids ages 5, 3, and seven months old,” the outlet wrote.
Sosa, who was awarded a medal in 2021 for rescuing a 5-year-old girl, stated: “It’s a great job. I love going out and serving my community. I was working in the same community I grew up in — Washington Heights.”
“You get a medal one year then you get terminated the year after,” he added.
Another victim of the mandates, NYC school teacher Orline Boro, appeared on Newsmax to discuss being placed on unpaid leave for refusing to comply.
