Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino unveiled an anti-mandate legislative package Wednesday at the steps of New York City Hall before officially introducing it during the City Council’s stated meeting later in the day.
According to Paladino, the purpose of this anti-mandate legislation is to create long-term systemic change. She said feels this would ensure New York City workers and schoolchildren’s livelihoods don’t get threatened due to personal medical decisions in relation to the mandates.
Paladino was joined by Council members Joann Ariola and David Carr, Teachers for Choice Founder Michael Kane and former paraprofessional and medical freedom activist Jo Rose. The group also called for the reinstatement of all New York City workers who were fired for not being vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic when the city had required them to be so.
Paladino noted that the four pieces that make up the package are finally ready after overcoming many obstacles to create the legislative package. According to Paladino, the package comes at a time when significant progress has already been made to lift all mandates for city workers.
“We have held rallies to call for the reinstatement and compensation of fired workers, worked in support of employees, gotten individuals their jobs back, created a platform for all of these people to have a voice and be heard and now we’re finally introducing legislation to create long-term systemic change to ensure that this never happens again,” Paladino said. “The mental health of our children has been completely ignored when it comes to implementing mask mandates, and that is unacceptable! We need to know why we are mandating masks and how that is affecting our children, socially, mentally and developmentally, so that we may be better equipped to help them deal with the repercussions.”
The legislative package introduced by Paladino aims to prohibit the alteration of terms and conditions of employment for all employees during a state disaster emergency so that employment contracts are not fundamentally and arbitrarily changed; make the extension of certain local emergency orders subject to the approval of the local governing body so that the City Council can be part of the process of extending emergency orders in New York City; establish rigorous scientific criteria, including an emphasis on mental health repercussions, that must be met before masking is mandated upon schoolchildren; and require the Department of Education to issue monthly reports on the implementation of mask mandates throughout its duration.
“Vickie Paladino has supported medical freedom long before it was popular,” Kane said. “All the fired and banned workers can’t thank her enough for her support.”
Paladino has initiated a grassroots effort to get support for her legislative package. If passed, Paladino says the package would ensure that the economic, mental, social and cultural devastation from the termination of close to 2,000 city workers would be mitigated.
