As New York and California begin the process of pushing state employees into either being vaccinated or facing the mask and test regime, most people don’t realize that this is a continuation or a prolonged battle. And the lefty unions were happy to temporarily virtue signal when it was the people they didn’t like who were dealing with it.
The Public Employees Federation (PEF) in New York, which will be at the epicenter of the new mandate, was posting garbage like this on their social media accounts.
Unions are horrified at the mask mandate rollback — and fear workers’ lives are at risk again – Salon
That was in May. Unions are suddenly less enthusiastic about pandemic mandates. But they were against masks before they were for masks.
As reported earlier in the year, the state Health Department had promulgated a rule requiring that health care workers who have direct contact with patients to either get a flu vaccination or wear a face mask. At the time, those options were offered as the latest solution to a long-running fight between DOH and health care workers, including their unions, regarding mandated vaccinations.
That’s a story from 2013, but the rhetoric should sound familiar.
Previously, PEF won a restraining order when the union challenged a directive of the state health commissioner mandating flu vaccinations for nurses and other health care workers . PEF is challenging the current regulation on the basis that the Commissioner is, once again in effect, mandating that affected workers get vaccinated because the alternative mask requirement is irrational, unduly burdensome and unproven in preventing the spread of flu from an asymptomatic health care worker to a patient.
PEF contends in the lawsuit filed yesterday that:
Wearing a mask does not prevent the spread of influenza between asymptomatic healthcare workers and their patients;
Masks can actually increase the possibility of contamination;
It’ll be interesting when the unions go back to mask mandates after opposing mask mandates after supporting mask mandates. Although at some point even they may have trouble keeping things straight.
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