The San Francisco Sheriff’s Association, the union representing officers in the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, said that many sheriff’s deputies would resign if the department sought to enforce a new coronavirus vaccine mandate.
In a Facebook post on Friday, the union wrote that the city’s mandate, which threatens termination for noncompliance, was out of step with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s own mandate, which at least offered regular testing as an alternative:
– – The SFDSA has always promoted Covid-19 Safety and has given out masks as well as face shields to first responders and the public during the peak of the pandemic. We believe the data and science speaks for itself and that masking works.
– – The problem we are faced with now is the strict San Francisco Mandate which is vaccinate or be terminated. If deputy sheriffs are forced to vaccinate a percentage of them will retire early or seek employment elsewhere.
– – The majority of Deputy Sheriffs are vaccinated. Approximately 160 out 700 Deputy Sheriffs are not vaccinated prefer to mask and test weekly instead of being vaccinated due to religious and other beliefs. Currently, the staffing at the SFSO is at the lowest it has ever been due to the past 9-month applicant testing restriction placed on the Sheriff’s Office by the Mayor.
– – San Francisco cannot afford to lose any more deputy sheriffs or any first responders. If they retire early or quit this will affect public safety even more. We would like San Francisco to be in alignment with the state guidelines which are require vaccination or test weekly.
San Francisco already faces a crisis in law enforcement, with petty crime soaring and Mayor London Breed proposing to redistribute $120 million from law enforcement to social programs (the final budget increased police funding, using the city’s general fund to provide the money for alternatives to policing, rather than cutting police funding directly)
And other California employers are facing similar headwinds. Disney revealed its new policy last week requiring employees to be vaccinated. That, however, only applied to salaried, and non-union cast members and not the 38,000 union members who make the bulk of the workforce.
The president of Local 362, which represents many cast members, including those in attractions and custodial, says the six unions making up the Service Trades Council have been negotiating with Disney all week and plan to continue doing so.
And union opposition appears in other states as well. The New York State United Teachers union voiced opposition after Gov. Andrew Cuomo encouraged schools to adopt such requirements.