Hey, there! Log in / Register
Union claims state troopers quitting en masse over vaccine mandate
By adamg on Mon, 09/27/2021 - 11:48am
WBZ reports that SPAM, which represents state troopers, says "dozens" are self-defunding and quitting rather than get a Covid-19 shot. Last week, a judge upheld a state requirement that troopers and other state employees be vaccinated by Oct. 17.
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Don't let the door hit you on
Don't let the door hit you on the way out
FYI, the stat of "dozens"
FYI, the stat of "dozens" resigning is from the union. As of Friday, NO ONE had resigned. So this is likely a union PR ploy for sympathy.
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/coronavirus/court-denies-mass-state-polic...
Lying about quitting? What
Lying about quitting? What would these troopers lie about next? Millions in dollars of overtime pay?!
Such arrogance
Except for the boneheads who refused the vaccine, who were protecting no one from the disease. If they all resign, it will probably produce a sharp increase in the overall intelligence of the MSP.
It's such a strange argument
I did the job I signed up to do, under these dangerous conditions, but now I refuse to do the one thing that can all but guarantee that a person of working age won't die from those same dangerous conditions I just told you I deserve praise for working under.
Not to mention
That the currently most dangerous condition for police officers in America, judge by ranking of cause of death, is:
not being vaccinated for COVID
So this refusal is up there with refusal to submit to a medical exam, refusal to attend gun safety training, refusal to learn how to drive...
TROOPERS QUITTING
Yeah: These people have a blank check for what they are making, $200,000 per year etc. Quitting, they not that dumb.
owning the libs!
nothing like owning the libs by quitting a high paying job with great benefits (and opportunities to rob the state blind)
Ok
Always nice when people self-administer ideological purity tests and then opt out.
I bet Florida is hiring cops to replace the ones they've lost to covid.
Bye Officer Felicia
I call that a win-win.
We could do with fewer cops on the payroll that have zero self-control and a lack of good judgement.
I'm involved in hiring right now at my company and I'm trying to convince them that if the reason the candidate is looking for a job is that they left their last employer due to a vaccine mandate, that's enough of a lack of good judgement to disqualify them to work for us. So far, so good.
Yup
We are absolutely up front with the "must be vaccinated before hiring date" requirement. Everyone on our staff has to be vaccinated or get a medical clearance by mid-October, so all hires need to be caught up. Absolutely a bozo filter.
Medical clearance?
What do you consider to be adequate medical clearance? I'm asking because I've heard all kinds of bullshit medical "reasons" why people say they can't get vaccinated, and I'm curious how you are dealing with these.
Not up to me
I do know that "documented anaphylaxis after vaccination" counts, as does "chemotherapy" (a chronic maintenance issue for some conditions) and some other actual medical issues.
You can't just claim this stuff, either - it has to be documented. Any doctor that signs off on a bullshit excuse risks their license.
Oh no, not terrible doctors!
You mean like the hundreds that run pill mills across the country?
Get over yourself
Licensing actually matters in MA. Just like facts. Vaccines are miraculous, but they can kill a select very few people. Grow up, study up, learn.
What's your actual point?
If you think I'm antivax, you're probably the kind of person who makes jokes about handicapped people. Oh wait...
Your actual point?
I'd ask, but it is on your head.
But I would expect that from someone who wouldn't get a joke used to point out systemic ableism in the law in a rush to score moral scolding points.
Just like your rush to pretend that adverse vaccine reactions don't exist and all doctors are on the take and subject to no discipline.
Coming to a municipality near you!
So now these people are going to be on your local city/town payroll. Hopefully most of them live in New Hampshire.
Maybe this can weed out
some of the most self-centered ones.
I call BS
I find it hard to fathom well paid state troopers would give up their status, pay, seniority, and additional pension earnings for what would be a political statement.
Call their bluff.
its like
Who is gonna hire a trooper? (rhetorical question, folks)
What move to NH? LOL oh wait.. half them already do.
I agree, there's no way these folks are leaving in droves. Someone is looking for a payday.
Dozens isn't that many either
Out of 2k+ troopers. That's a rounding error.
The union notes:
"some of whom plan to return to other departments offering reasonable alternatives such as mask wearing and regular testing."
If the other departments are in the same pension system and offer comparable pay, it might be worthwhile to trade some prestige for a job which is probably a bit less risky or offers a better commute. The vax requirement might just be the one thing which pushes the decision one way or the other.
That's not an endorsement of their choice, just an explanation of the other factors which might be at play.
Others might have already hit the age where they get full credit to retire and this was just the trigger to finally push them out the door.
FWIW, the union states what it wants in exchange for dropping its opposition to the vax mandate: "to treat a COVID related illness as a line of duty injury."
A hard working if
You write: "If the other departments are in the same pension system..."
They're not. State pension system Group 3 is reserved solely for State Police.
https://www.mass.gov/doc/msers-retirement-benefit-guide/download
That's a very strange counteroffer
given that covid-related injury or illness would be greatly reduced through vaccination.
So when some unvaccinated
So when some unvaccinated bozo cop dies of COVID, they can pull out all the stops and demand more police funding because “our officers are dying in the streets”?
Bye, bitch!
Bye, bitch!
I hope they actually do
I hope they actually do resign so the state can hire a more diverse and less criminal group of cadets. But, I bet this is just a ploy and Baker will capitulate. I mean, they have put in for so many fake hours, do we really need as many staties as we have if it takes years to notice they werent even working?
I doubt Baker will give in
Agreements with the key public employee unions for other state workers are in place. That's too much work already done to screw up.
SPAM
Never did a union have an apter acronym.
Wait, what?
"Simply put, all we are asking for are the same basic accommodations that countless other departments have provided to their first responders, and to treat a COVID related illness as a line of duty injury." WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO!!!
Can you imagine telling this union that we don't have the budget for safety devices like bullet proof vests? They'd lose their collective minds!
The covid vax is the epidemiological version of that vest; it's doesn't guarantee that the trooper won't be hurt but still offers a real level of protection. And unlike the vest, it protects the public as well.
If they're not willing to take this simple step to protect everyone, then they shouldn't have the job in the first place.
Covid was the leading cause of death among LEO
in the first six months of 2021.
This is in effect an IQ test. If you don't have enough of a self-preservation instinct to get the shot, you're in the wrong profession, too stupid to be a trooper.
Nothing to see here.
Just another news cycle where a union is linking a change in working conditions to turnover in the workforce. Media outlets will create content out of any perceived controversy, real or imagined, this will be shared across social media or forwarded to untold number of spam folders by lazy legacy enthusiasts. Outrage across the political spectrum will follow and by the end of the week no one will be any wiser because, wait for it, the public at large has no real insight into any statistical data that could help us determine the cause of separation wither at scale or on a case-by-case basis. But that's not important because goldfish memory, lack of critical thinking skills, the need to be heard when hollering, etc.
However, as even a lazy person like myself can occasionally google, the State Police already broadcasted the impending "critical staffing shortage" through the media as far back in time as July 13th of this year where one Col. Christopher Mason is quoted as saying "the department expects to lose anywhere from 200 to 250 members during 2021." So not a real mystery there.
Obviously the story doesn't mention the refusal to receive a vaccine by an undetermined number of troopers because that was management talking and the reason for the shortage at that time was attributed to the ongoing overtime payroll fraud and the parade of troopers coming and going from the Moakley courthouse. I'm sure that both parties will discover other reasons for grievances as they continue to battle each other in the press.
Years from now someone will write a book describing groups of Baby Boomers fighting to expand staffing in their workplaces, holding on to their jobs longer than expected, excluding women and minorities, hiring and promoting employees with legacy ties and a host of other schmendrick activities who suddenly find themselves unable to recruit, train and deploy the manpower necessary to fulfill the real or imaginary obligations they themselves created. No doubt they'll find blame everywhere except in their own actions and a study will be commissioned to compile all of the excuses provided when the reality is probably going to be closer to a better educated workforce with ample employment opportunities is going to shun organizations who've spent the better part of fifty years in self-isolation while alienating the available recruiting pool.
Another case of: “What’s in
Another case of: “What’s in it for me?”
“No extra pay?”
“No bennies?”
“I’m out!”
Reminds me of https://youtu
Reminds me of https://youtu.be/7FPELc1wEvk
I'm actually surprised that I seem to be first to post this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKie-vgUGdI
Highly effective
Great way to clear out the over confident and willfully stupid ones.
I believe at some point State
I believe at some point State Troopers may end up resigning earlier than expected. That would be because the state is already working on a program for people in the pension that worked outside of their homes during the pandemic hot period. Giving extra years for service.
Get your damn shot and shut up.
Never been more surprised at
Never been more surprised at a comment thread here before. I thought Blue Lives Matter and all that stuff? IF there are those who are still on the fence, the attitude is to be damned with them right? Maybe consider some people have a different approach to life than you do. And I’m fully vaccinated so don’t accuse me of being anti.
When public safety officers are on the wrong side
of a public safety issue, it's time for them to get on the right side, or GTFO. It's not complicated, and it's not a question of one's "approach to life".
The medical science here is not in dispute, and the courts support the right of government to insist its workers get vaccinated.
If you truly believe Blue Lives Matter, try tackling the number one killer of police officers in 2021: contracting covid without the benefit of a vaccination.
Well you see
I don't want anyone dying an avoidable death from COVID, and the most surefire way of that outcome is to get everyone vaccinated against COVID.
Blue lives don't exist.
Blue lives don't exist. "Police officer" is a job, not a race or ethnicity. Becoming a cop is a choice, not an inherent trait that you're born with.
If blue lives indeed matter ...
... then making sure they are vaccinated is the best way to keep them alive.
It’s a political crybaby move
So let me get this straight - you carry a gun and have other requirements to be a trooper but don’t want a jab in the arm? Come on.
Same with the military who object - you will go to a foreign country and be shot at but don’t take a jab,
It’s all political theatre and people who are in charge of public safety should know better.
Military
Military personnel are required to get numerous vaccines. For example: an MMR shot even if they’ve previously had one. If you don’t already know about the “peanut butter shot”, you may not want to. It’s hard to believe someone would willingly go through the existing vaccine regimen but draw the line at the COVID shot, unless they have embraced the wacky theories about damage to reproductive systems. In which case, an intellectual incapacity discharge would be in order.
Numerous
As in 13, currently. COVID is just number 14.
Not to mention malaria prophylaxis, which has terrible side effects.
And they will pull out your frickin wisdom teeth, whether you need that or not.
All that and then you refuse what is now one of the most extensively tested vaccines (more than six billion shots given) ever made?
Nah, bro. Just go.
BYEEEEEEEE
Hope they're all with Troop F
En masse
means, literally, "in mass", or as a whole. In such a context it suggests the the SPAM-threat is that its entire membership, not just a few dozen out of 1800, will resign. I didn't see that in there anywhere (though I was hoping).
I recognize that this is the least important and probably least interesting post on this thread, and have already given my thumb up for several of the others. However I have a character flaw that will not allow me to let language-abuse, or even misuse, to pass without objection.
One RETIREMENT so far
as of last night, reported by the Globe.
If you are eligible to retire and a vaccine mandate is the last straw for you, good riddance. You earned your retirement, I just hope you live long enough to enjoy it to the fullest.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/27/metro/state-police-union-claims-d...
Oh please oh please oh please.
Dozens of bad cops quitting because a Covid shot is just too much for them.
Can we encourage the union in this wondrous campaign? Please?
Seriously, don't threaten me
Seriously, don't threaten me with a good time.