Chicago Mayor Accuses Police Union Of Trying To ‘Induce An Insurrection’ Over Vaccine Mandate

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot – who appears to have violated both local and state mask mandates at the WNBA finals yesterday – said that the city’s Fraternal Order of Police is attempting to “induce an insurrection” using misinformation to oppose vaccine mandates.

“We believe that the FOP leadership is trying to foment an illegal workstop, and a strike – plain and simple… The contract is clear and has been known for a long time. The police union is not authorized to strike.”

“What we’ve seen from the FOP, in particular the leadership, is a lot of misinformation. A lot of half-truths and frankly flat-out lies, in order to induce an insurrection.”

Watch:

Last week, the head of the Chicago police officers union on Tuesday called on its members to refuse to comply with the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which took effect on Friday.

“Do not fill out the portal information,” Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said in a video to officers posted on YouTube.

“I’ve made my status very clear as far as the vaccine, but I do not believe the city has the authority to mandate that to anybody—let alone that information about your medical history.”

“It’s safe to say that the city of Chicago will have a police force at 50 percent or less for this weekend coming up,” Catanzara added.

Lightfoot’s mandate requires city workers to report their vaccine status by Friday or be placed on a “no-pay” status.

On Friday, the FOP and Lightfoot’s administration sued each other – with the city filing a complaint against the union and Catanzara for supporting a “work stoppage or strike regarding the vaccine mandate.”

Hours later, the FOP filed suit against Lightfoot and Chicago PD Supt. David Brown, accusing them of failing to negotiate with the union over the mandate, according to CBS2 Chicago.

At a hearing late Friday afternoon, city attorneys assured a Cook County judge officers who show up to work over the weekend will be able to work and will be paid, but said they could be written up for disciplinary action if they do not comply with the requirement to report their vaccination status by the Friday night deadline.

After lengthy arguments, the judge granted the city’s request for a temporary injunction barring Catanzara from making any public comments that encourage members of the FOP to defy the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate until the next hearing on the city’s lawsuit on Oct. 25. -CBS2

Everything is apparently an insurrection these days…