PHOENIX (AP) – Unions representing the Phoenix Police and Fire Department have joined a lawsuit filed by the Arizona Attorney General seeking to overturn federal vaccine regulations for millions of workers.
The unions joined the case last week after the Phoenix city manager said all employees must be vaccinated by January 18 in order for the city to abide by the rules established by President Joe Biden’s administration.
Federal employers are required to vaccinate their employees, and an occupational safety and health agency regulation put on hold by a federal appeals court would require employers with more than 100 workers to regularly test anyone who is not vaccinated. Phoenix officials say the city has federal treaties so they need to make sure all employees are vaccinated.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich, running for the US Senate in a crowded Republican primary, has spent weeks drawing attention to his court filings against Biden’s vaccine requirements, which he believes represent an abuse of power on the part of the president.
This continued on Monday when Brnovich called a press conference with leaders of the Phoenix Police and Fire Brigade Unions.
The vaccination mandate will drive people out of the job and leave remaining firefighters overworked, said Bryan Willingham, a Phoenix firefighter and vice chairman of the United Phoenix Firefighters Association.
“The community cannot lose these people. You can’t, ”said Willingham. “We cannot survive the personnel crisis if we lose these members.”
Willingham said he does not dispute the vaccine’s effectiveness or believe it is contributing to false narratives about the vaccine but rather standing up for the firefighters he represents.
When a reporter asked Brnovich if he was vaccinated, his press secretary stepped in and called the question “inappropriate”. Brnovich waved that off and asked the reporter: “Do you have an STD?”
“The question should be, if you allow or cede that authority to the federal government, where does it end?” said Brnovich.
Also on Monday, two Republican members of the Arizona Corporation Commission proposed fining regulated utilities up to $ 5,000 per violation for requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Commissioners Justin Olson, who is also seeking nomination for the GOP US Senate, and Jim O’Connor want the five-member commission to consider the new rule at its next open session in mid-December. They are concerned that utility companies like Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power are being forced by Biden Administration policies to require state contractors to require their employees to take the vaccine.
“Ultimately, employees of a (regulated utility) shouldn’t have to choose whether to violate their beliefs or keep their jobs,” wrote Olson and O’Connor in a letter posted on the Commission’s file.
The Arizona utility companies are tasked with providing electricity to several military bases and federal facilities.
Sherine Zaya, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Public Service, said in an email that the state’s largest electricity company is “monitoring developments regarding vaccine needs.” She said the COVID-19 safety protocols remain in place and the company does not currently have a vaccine mandate.
According to the Arizona Republic, O’Connor clandestinely lobbied utility companies earlier this year to avoid using the vaccine. He told the newspaper in May that thousands of people who received the vaccine had died and tens of thousands were left as “potted plants” and lost their functionality. There is no evidence to support his statements about COVID-19 vaccines.
Arizona reported 3,249 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths on Monday. Almost 22,000 deaths and more than 1.2 million COVID-19 infections have been reported in the state since the pandemic began.
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