Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is accusing members of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) of attempting to “induce an insurrection” after the group released a memo urging officers not to get the vaccine to align with the mandate.
Chicago FOP President John Catanzara issued a memo last week saying the city would be forced to compromise on the mandate after officers were put out of work and citizens’ safety was on the line.
The Daily Wire reports:
A reporter asked Lightfoot on Monday, “The big question is why legal action, but can I also put it this way, there is a different tone from CPS [Chicago Public Schools], from Pedro Martinez; he was asked what’s going to happen to those who don’t have their vaccines, and he said the other day, ‘We’re going to work with them. We’re going to talk to them. We’re going to make sure, try to understand what’s going on.’ So why a different tone for CPS than the police?”
“Well, I don’t think there is a different tone for one versus the other,” Lightfoot answered. “CEO Martinez has indicated that, and again, in agreement with the union, so that is one circumstantial difference, that every adult in the system has to be vaccinated. And that agreement was reached months ago and they’ve been working very hard to execute on that agreement reached with all the collective bargaining agencies that employ folks at CPS. So it’s a very different set of circumstances and I think he believes it’s going to be very small group that remains either unvaccinated or not signing up. And so he understands though that accountability is important, as do we.”
“You asked the question of why the lawsuit,” she continued. “Because we believe that the FOP leadership is trying to foment an illegal work stoppage, a strike. Pure and simple. We’ve laid that out in the materials. And we’re not having that. The contract is clear and it’s been known for a long time, the police unions are not authorized to strike. It’s in their collective bargaining agreement. It’s a matter of state law.”
“What we’ve seen from the Fraternal Order Police, and particularly the leadership, is a lot of misinformation, a lot of half-truths, and frankly flat-out lies, in order to induce an insurrection,” she charged. “And we’re not having that. So we want to make it very, very clear that the law’s on our side. We feel very confident about it and what he said even after, what I heard that he said even after the lawsuit was filed and we notified them, is urging members of the department to ignore their chain of command.”
Lightfoot noted that she doubts officers will follow Catanzara’s lead and reject the vaccine mandate, however, if officers follow suit the city could face immediate problems.
