Cops, Firefighters Protest Newark Vaccine Mandate At City Hall

NEWARK, NJ — Members of police and firefighter unions rallied outside of Newark City Hall on Wednesday to protest the city’s coronavirus vaccine mandate.

In August, Newark officials announced that New Jersey's largest will be requiring all municipal workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine, or they could lose their jobs. There will be "medical and religious exemptions" to the city's mandate, which gave employees – including cops and firefighters – 30 days to provide proof they got inoculated.

Police and fire department union leaders tried to file a restraining order to stop the effort, with one union official calling the move "heavy-handed.”

The New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) eventually ruled that the city must negotiate parts of the mandate with unions, such as potential discipline, testing, "privacy concerns" and the timeframe for the policy's rollout.

• See related article: Newark City Workers Must Get Vaccine, Or Could Be Fired
• See related article: Newark Police Aide Mourned; Navy Veteran Is City’s 9th To Die Of COVID

Dozens of police and firefighters showed up at City Hall on Wednesday to voice their opposition to the mandate. Local journalists captured video footage of the protest, which can be seen here and here.

Some pundits supported the protest.

Not everyone who caught the rally were thrilled, however.

In March, the state Department of Health ruled that an employer can require New Jersey residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine in order to enter a workplace. But the state DOH said there are at least three exceptions to that rule:

• The employee has a disability that would prevent them from getting the vaccine.
• The employee's doctor advised them not to get the vaccine while pregnant or breastfeeding
• The employee has sincerely held religious beliefs, practices or observances that would prevent them from being inoculated.

If the employee can prove such exceptions, the employer must provide a reasonable accommodation, the state DOH.

• See related article: COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates And New Jersey — Perfect Together?

NEWARK MAYOR: ‘WHAT HAS CHANGED? A LOT’

When Mayor Ras Baraka announced the city’s mandate last month, he said it was “about protecting the health and well-being of our municipal team, their families, as well as the residents and visitors they come into contact with.”

As positive cases of coronavirus are rising again, due to the highly contagious delta variant, we need to take whatever steps necessary to safeguard and ensure everyone's safety," Baraka said. "The introduction and enforcement of this requirement is purely intended and designed to combat a dreadful pandemic that we have been fighting against for more than a year."

There has been fear in Newark about getting a shot, the mayor has acknowledged in the past – not just among public safety workers, but among residents as well.

• See related article: Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Causing 'Fear' In Newark, Mayor Says

Baraka referenced this fear – and why it needs to be overcome – in a statement to the Newark Fire Union on Aug. 18. After getting a letter from its members in protest of the city’s new vaccine policy, Baraka offered a detailed reply.

He wrote:

“Thank you for the letter of August 14 about the vaccine mandate. I thought it was thoughtful and clear. I also appreciate the quote that was used that I expressed multiple times and actually rings true at this very moment. I was specifically talking about vaccine hesitancy amongst the African American community. This hesitancy, as I stated, was based on historical acts of racism and white supremacy in this country that targeted our community, and in fact still exists today in many forms. However, data has shown us that today there are more African Americans that want to take the vaccine than we actually have access to. Many states are trying to work on this access including our own. In Newark, more than half of the population 12 and up are fully vaccinated and over 60 percent have received at least one shot. If we just count those 18 and over that number increases.

“And to answer your question as to what has changed since I made my earlier statement; a lot has changed since then. Our numbers in Newark have decreased precipitously. Our hospital stays are way down. Most importantly our deaths (nine being police personnel) have also dropped in a huge way. This is real data and we cannot ignore it. Last April, we had a positivity rate that crept over 60 percent. We were pulling bodies out of our senior homes that had no one to get them. Our hospitals were overcrowded and we had four times as many deaths at home than we did the previous year. Our long-term health facilities were breeding grounds for a virus that began taking lives almost as fast as people were becoming infected. I lost friends. I have talked to residents who, under my watch, lost multiple family members in less than two weeks. So again, much has changed and thank God for the better. If we have a chance, any chance not to go back there then it is my responsibility to take it no matter how difficult or angry people become as a result of this. I know this cuts down the middle. People are very passionate about this. It has become completely politicized and less about science and more about whose side you are on. I will always be on the side of life and the living. I have a responsibility to save as many lives as humanly possible, politics notwithstanding. I have to base my decisions on the very real data we have before us. Over 90 percent of the people dying from COVID are those that are not vaccinated. We know this as fact and we still are allowing exemptions for those that have religious conflicts or medical issues.

“I care deeply about the essential workers and first responders which is why requiring them to get vaccinated is the right decision. More officers died on the job from COVID in one year in Newark than officers have died in multiple years combined on this job. Over 900 more in public safety alone threatened by this virus and this doesn’t even include their families and children. So what about those that are trying to protect themselves from those that are unvaccinated, refuse to wear a mask, or even get tested regularly? What about their freedom? Their freedom to be in an environment free from sickness and possible death, to have a workplace that they feel comfortable coming to? | take offense with the idea that this policy is against public safety. I completely disagree it is an attempt to make the public safe and those that took an oath to ensure it.

Lastly, we have difficult and public facing jobs. Our ability to be present is crucial. Our ability to perform is critical. Our ability to secure our communities and families is the heart of our jobs. Anything that threatens that is problematic, to say the least. Police and fire are mandated to do many things that help further their ability to do their jobs at optimum levels. They must all endure training and without it they cannot be hired. And if they violate that training, they can lose their jobs. They must wear specific gear at all times because it protects them and if they do not have it, mishandle it, or lose it they can lose their jobs. They must follow all rules, procedures and applicable laws or they will lose their jobs. Police officers must wear body cameras or their jobs can be in jeopardy. This all follows the same logic as getting vaccinated. The same way our children must be vaccinated to go to school to keep the public safe. We are enlisting the same principle here. We are not trying to threaten people or fire people; that will certainly be, if at all, our last resort.

“I know how terrible this time has been for all of us. Unfortunately, I have seen it up close from a view point that has chased many away. It has been the greatest threat we have seen in generations. Most of that has been overshadowed by conspiracy theory, pseudo-science and political opportunism. I pray that we all have the presence of mind and strength of heart to end this as soon and as permanent as we can.”

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