PETITION to the Office of the Mayor of New York City and Uniformed Firefighters Association

WHEREAS: The Firefighters and Uniformed Members of the FDNY, a.k.a. ‘New York’s Bravest’, the Fire Department of the City of New York, henceforth referred to as (FDNY Members), seek injunctive relief from the unconstitutional ‘mandates’ that are to be implemented for enforcement beginning on September 13, 2021 in regards to ‘Covid-19 Vaccination Status’ and subjugation to weekly testing, in lieu of a ‘Vaccinated Passport’ by order of the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. The FDNY Members desire a safe work environment, but are severely filled with consternation as to how the mayor’s implementation will ultimately adversely affect the divisive work environment and impact daily work duties, fostering an ‘Us versus Them’ mentality, regarding ‘Vaccination Status’. Members are feeling pressure of coercion due to these sanctions and restrictions. The idea that vaccination can be ‘forced’ in order to continue their employment with the City of New York is abhorrent. The Firefighters are vehemently addressing the following articles or ‘topics’ regarding the proposed mandate in hopes of finding an amicable, equitable, non-discriminatory and constitutional solution so that a safe and healthy work environment can be fostered.

ARTICLE I– NO FORCED MANDATORY VACCINATIONS

WHEREAS: The FDNY Members are vehemently oppose to any kind of forced vaccinations. Any Member may choose to be vaccinated, however ONLY by that individual’s voluntary choice. By sanctioning tests and not providing any plan to facilitate testing, The City of New York is placing undue burden on the FDNY Membership. Threats to withhold pay from Members based on these coercive actions are viewed as force. We demand that FDNY Members with Immunity based on natural antibody production should be medically recognized, as it is proven to be more robust than that of vaccine antibody response. We demand Medical and Religious exemptions be honored by the City of New York. Members Beliefs and personal choices are more important than the City’s desire for an obedient vaccinated work force. Any and all potential long-term health risks or complications from being ‘forced’ to be vaccinated in order to continue their employment with the City of New York will be blood on the hands of NYC.

ARTICLE II – SCREENING for the COVID-19 VIRUS IN THE WORKPLACE

WHEREAS: The FDNY Members fervently demand that if health screenings are to be implemented that it must be done so for ALL employees, regardless of ‘Vaccination Status’. As advised by the CDC, ‘Fully-Vaccinated’ or ‘Partially-Vaccinated’ employees are not impervious to infection. They can carry and transmit ‘Covid-19’ or other variants of this easily transmitted virus. If the City of New York is truly interested in creating a ‘safe work environment’, ALL employees MUST be included if a protocol is initiated. An arbitrary and capricious implementation will lead to unconstitutionality on discriminatory grounds as pertaining to a Worker’s ‘Vaccination Status’. If not done in this manner, the City of New York is knowingly creating an unsafe work environment by refusing to acknowledge vaccine inefficacy. No plan has been given for how and where Membership’s proposed testing will be performed. Currently only divisive sanctions have been placed on some FDNY Members in a coercive manner. The City of New York has made no effort to accommodate it’s employs with departmental testing facilities. If this unscientific and invidious methodology of retaliatorily segregated Covid-19 screening is enacted, we as FDNY Members will immediately seek injunctive relief on the grounds of vindictive discriminatory unconstitutionality by our employer.

ARTICLE III – FAILURE of TESTING INACTION

WHEREAS: The FDNY Members question the unsound rationality of not implementing any form of Covid-19 testing from January 2020 to present day. FDNY Members bravely worked since the first time “Flatten the curve” was mentioned until now, with almost no change to safety policy. The Office of the Mayor of New York City did not offer voluntary testing to protect Membership. Those with symptoms and unknown infection status, potentially spread Virus. Due to the clear in-action of the City of New York, by not offering voluntary testing on-site and to maintain a safe and healthy work environment, hundreds of FDNY Members became sick. Henceforth, we demand relief and restitution for ‘pain and suffering’ and lost wages due to the gross negligence of the City of New York failing to institute a testing program when necessary to ensure our safety as any employer should. At no point did The City of New York deem testing everyone mandatory until now. At this point however, this action is illogical because vaccination is available to those who believe it will help them.

ARTICLE IV – IN CONCLUSION

WHEREAS: All firefighters desire to have an amicable and respectful relationship with our employer, (FDNY) and the City of New York. This new policy as currently described is unrealistic and will ultimately fail absolutely. Anyone who has looked at the proposal knows normal FDNY operations and staffing will be extremely affected because of a weekly “test everyone” policy. The City of New York has seemingly created this plan to fail, as to claim hardship. If this is not the case we can all come to a peaceful effective solution during these challenging times. The worst of this pandemic situation has been overcome. Top down authoritarianism is not the way forward. Anyone who holds public office took an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. We beseech you on behalf of the framers of the constitution to adhere to their guidelines pertaining to our personal freedoms and liberty. The rights, freedoms and liberties are not something that the Office of the Mayor of New York City can infringe upon, as they were given to us by God and not by man. Again, we respectfully implore you to consider our requests that we so earnestly have gave great thought to. We just want to do our job, serve the city and go home to our loved ones, as do you. We can safely and constitutionally come to an agreement without any measure being forced upon us, when it comes to vaccinations. Thank you for your consideration.

Concerned Members of the FDNY