CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The City of Chicago is taking the president of the police union to court over his refusal to go along with with Mayor Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate - a mandate that requires all city employees to report their COVID-19 vaccination status by Friday, Oct. 15.
“What we’ve seen from the Fraternal Order of Police, and particularly the leadership, is a lot of misinformation, a lot of half-truths, and frankly lies, in order to induce an insurrection," Mayor Lightfoot said Friday.
Late Thursday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot directed the City of Chicago’s law department to file a complaint for injunctive relief against the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 and its President John Catanzara for "engaging in, supporting, and encouraging a work stoppage or strike," according to a statement from the mayor.
"As Chicago’s Mayor, I cannot and will not stand idly by while the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists threatens the health and safety of Chicago’s residents and first responders," Lightfoot said in a statement Thursday.
"President Catanzara has time and again deliberately misled our police officers by lying about the requirements of the policy and falsely claiming that there will be no repercussions if officers are insubordinate and refuse to follow a city and department directive or order. Notably Catanzara has urged officers to reject the city’s vaccine policy and has repeatedly instructed police officers to refuse to comply with the city’s lawful directive which requires all city employees to report their COVID-19 vaccination status by October 15. By doing so, and by predicting that 50 percent or more officers will violate their oaths and not report for duty, Catanzara is encouraging an unlawful strike and work stoppage which carries the potential to undermine public safety and expose our residents to irreparable harm, particularly during an ongoing pandemic."
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The FOP responded on Twitter, saying, “President John Catanzara has never engaged in, supported, or encouraged a work stoppage. @LoriLightfoot is the only one who has said she will send our dedicated Officers home without pay if they choose to reject her unlawful orders. Hold the line, CPD, like you always do."
Shortly after the Mayor’s Office announced the city was filing a complaint for injunctive relief against the union, FOP President John Catanzara released a video to the rank-and-file.
“If any supervisor orders you to fill out that portal, you are under no obligation to respond or comply," he said.
Catanzara is the subject of police disciplinary investigations; and Mayor Lightfoot said he has ruined his police career.
“I do not want to see young officers who are doing heroic work follow his lead," she said.
The mayor said the requirement to declare vaccine status is “a lawful directive.”
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