Trash is piling up, and fire stations are shutting down in New York City, as thousands of municipal workers defy Mayor Bill de Blasio’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate. After the mandate went into effect on Monday, massive piles of garbage appeared in numerous spots around the city, as 17 percent of sanitation workers refuse to get the experimental injections.
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On Saturday, the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) reportedly shuttered 26 fire companies due to staff shortages caused by the COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
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With many fire stations closed a flicker of fire on the piled up trash in NYC & kaboom instant disaster. pic.twitter.com/K5ONb8a7TM
— TruthSocial: @HoneeDesigner (@HoneeDesigner) November 2, 2021
A total of 18 fire companies were still out of service on Monday, ABC7 reported.
Staffing shortages are being felt all across the city as more than 9,000 municipal workers— including firefighters, police officers, and sanitation workers—were put on unpaid leave Monday for refusing to receive at least one dose of the experimental COVID vaccine.
A total of 24,000 city workers out of more than 300,000 reportedly remain unvaccinated, including those requesting accommodations for medical or religious reasons.
Desperate to keep their jobs, more than 3,500 municipal workers submitted to the mayor’s authoritarian directive over the weekend, bringing the total city workforce to 91 percent vaccinated.
The president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association said that FDNY’s staff shortage is a danger to the city.
“They knew this was coming,” said Andrew Ansbro, Uniformed Firefighters Association President. “I pray it doesn’t cost the life of a citizen or a firefighter.”
De Blasio however, was pleased that many desperate workers in recent days were submitting under duress to his tyrannical mandate, bragging that 2,000 more city employees got vaccinated in the past 24 hours.
“I think the big story is clear, 92% of the workforce is now vaccinated. Folks when they get to that moment of decision, overwhelmingly are choosing to get vaccinated. So going through those accommodation requests, you know people put in the request, it has to be reviewed, there’s an opportunity given then for any additional information to offer, there’s an appeal process, it’ll play out over days, even several weeks,” he said. “But what we do know is that for those who get that accommodation okay, for those who don’t, it’s a decision point.”
Out of the city’s nearly 11,000 firefighters about 23% remain unvaccinated. More than half of the 2,300 members out on sick leave are reportedly unvaccinated. The fire commissioner suggested that unvaccinated members were faking illness to put the department in a tough spot.
“Understaffing could end immediately if members stopped going sick when they weren’t sick,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. “We hope that ends very soon and we can go back to staffing our units as they should be.”
De Blasio was more blunt: “The folks who are out sick and really aren’t sick, the folks who are faking it are doing an immense disservice to the people of this city, and to their fellow members of service,” he said. “And we will make sure there’s consequences for that. This is something we are watching very carefully to see if it is coordinated. If the union coordinates in any way, that is a job action violation of the Taylor law. We are watching constantly to see if anything constitutes that and if so we go to court immediately.”
Union leaders say they are insulted by these allegations.
“We take great exception to the assertions that NYC firefighters, allegedly in the thousands, are faking medical leave because of the mandate,” said Edward Kelly, International Association of Firefighters, President.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) worried in a recent interview with Fox and Friends that New York City is “spiraling out of control.”
“The fact that he’s instituting the mandate for law enforcement officers, for first responders, and for city workers, it’s going to have a hugely negative impact both on the way of life in New York City, but also on the safety and security in New York City,” Stefanik said.