Pa prison guards' union warns of legal action over vaccine mandate

[left-of-center2012]

(You can't tell us what to do !)

The union that represents about 10,000 guards in Pennsylvania’s state prisons told Gov. Tom Wolf Thursday it
plans legal action to stop his effort to force them to get COVID-19 vaccines over the next month.

The president of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association sent a letter to the Democratic governor two days after Wolf ordered the guards and some other state workers to get fully vaccinated by Sept. 7 or face weekly testing. Union president John Eckenrode told Wolf his policy announcement was “a slap in the face — and frankly, way too late because thousands of our members already have been infected ...” Eckenrode added the union “has instructed legal counsel to challenge this latest proposed policy change.”

Wolf press secretary Lyndsay Kensinger said Thursday the initiative was designed to protect the guards, their families and the people they work among. “The union exists to protect and support the employees it represents, so the corrections union’s opposition to this initiative to stop the spread of COVID-19 is extremely disappointing,” Kensinger said.

The Corrections Department’s website indicates about
4,800 of the prison system’s more than 12,000 staff have been infected by the coronavirus, and the union says nearly
3,700 of its members have caught COVID-19. The department says about
only 3,600 of the12,000 correctional employees are currently fully vaccinated.

https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-59833d5242e38ca83be315cecbf06ec5

[Walleye]

1. I hope the union works this hard to get benefits and work safety for their members

Because this action is of no benefit to the members at all

[EYESORE 9001]

2. That seems like a splendid use of union dues

[comradebillyboy]

3. US courts have been upholding

vaccine mandates since 1905. I don’t think that will change.