Four City of Pittsburgh employees fired for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19

PITTSBURGH — Target 11 Investigator Rick Earle has learned that four city workers were just fired for failing to get vaccinated.

Earle has also learned that there’s been no resolution for members of both the police and fire unions.

They continue to be exempt from the mandate, but it’s unclear how long that will last.

Former Mayor Bill Peduto implemented the vaccine mandate for all city workers back in late December, just weeks before leaving office.

When the new Mayor, Ed Gainey, took over in early January, he appeared to endorse the mandate during his first news conference.

Earle asked Gainey if he supports the vaccine mandate.

“Well, it seems to be working. There’s no question about it, it seems to be working,” said Mayor Gainey.

Target 11 has learned that the city has now fired four employees who failed to get the vaccine as required by the city.

But police and fire fighters have been temporarily exempted from that mandate after separate arbitrators ruled that the city must first negotiate with them.

The unions had argued that any change to working conditions such as a vaccine mandate must be negotiated under the terms of the collective bargaining agreements already in place.

On his first day in office, Gainey said he would pick up negotiations where the previous administration had left off.

“We want to be able to sit down with the union leaders, about how they are going to get their members vaccinated, but the reality is it seems to be working,” said Gainey.

And on Thursday evening, Gainey’s spokesman, Sam Wasserman, told Target 11, “Discussions over the police and fire union grievances are ongoing. As a matter of procedure, we do not negotiate via public comment.

Earlier this week, the president of the fire fighters’ union, who says 86% of his members are already vaccinated, told Target 11 they’re still waiting to hear from the new administration.

“Have you had any negotiations with the city on the vaccine mandate?,” asked Earle.

“Not since the change in administration. I know the administration has had a lot of difficult issues to deal with, from the bridge collapse to getting their administration up and running, so we’re waiting for whenever they’re ready to sit back down and discuss the matter,” said union president Ralph Sicuro.

The police union had several meetings with the law department canceled. They have another meeting set for next week.

Target 11: Discipline over not meeting Pittsburgh vaccine mandate cutoff delayed for employees

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