The wealthy elites win again – and the proles aren’t happy about it.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday announced that athletes and other entertainers would be immediately exempt from the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“Being healthy is not just about being physically healthy, but being economically healthy,” the mayor said in defense of his decision. Previously, unvaccinated entertainers from New York were barred from performing, unless they got the shot, while unvaxxed out-of-towners were permitted to do so.
“This is about putting New York City-based based performers on a level playing field,” Adams continued. “Hometown players had an unfair disadvantage.”
Adams endeared himself to municipal employees by also pledging to not rehire workers who were fired for refusing the jab. In November the city put 9,000 workers on unpaid leave because they would not get vaxxed.
Now, his decision may invite lawsuits from disgruntled workers who argued that the mayor was protecting wealthy elites and ditching everyday New Yorkers.
“There can’t be one system for the elite and another for the essential workers of our city,” Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association and chair of the umbrella Municipal Labor Committee, told The New York Post.
Patrick Lynch, president of the 24,000-member Police Benevolent Association, the police union, added, “We have been suing the city for months over its arbitrary and capricious vaccine mandate – this is exactly what we are talking about.”
“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,” Lynch said in a statement.
“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.”
The Post on Thursday quoted local lawyers who said numerous private-sector workers were also reaching out about being terminated because they would not comply with the mandate.
Lawyer James Mermigis told the Post that Adams’ announcement was “another slap in the face to regular New Yorkers who just want to earn a living.”
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