Federal Workers' Union Urges Biden to Delay COVID Vaccine Deadline
The American Federation of Government Employees, which counts roughly 700,000 federal and D.C. government workers, has asked President Joe Biden to delay the deadline for federal workers to receive the coronavirus vaccine from November 22nd to January 4th.
The plea comes after the deadline for federal contractor employees to undergo vaccination was pushed back from December 8th to January 4th.
“This double standard has caused confusion and distress among federal employees due to disparate treatment and incongruent deadlines for people who perform the government’s work in the same settings,” the union’s president, Everett Kelley, wrote in a letter Tuesday.
“It is inexcusable that contractors are being given the entire holiday season to meet the mandates, while federal employees continue to be subject to the November 22 deadline,” Kelley added. “The effect upon morale of federal employees being subject to possible discipline at this time of the year cannot be overstated.”
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients has said federal employees who chose to buck the mandate will receive “counseling” and could later be suspended and even terminated.
“It’s important to remember that this is a process and the point here is to get people vaccinated, not to punish them,” Zients said last month. “Agencies will not be removing employees from federal service until after they’ve gone through a process of education and counseling.”
A federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily stayed the Biden administration’s mandate directing private-sector workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The three-judge panel in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the new federal mandate for companies with more than 100 employees to require their workers to get vaccinated, or submit to weekly tests and masking. Those that defy the rules face fines as high as $14,000 per violation.
On Thursday, the Biden administration rolled out the mandate as its latest effort to goad tens of millions of unvaccinated workers to get the jab. The requirement was scheduled to take effect Jan. 4 and would affect about 84 million workers.
The UPI contributed to this report.
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