President Biden had barely finished speaking to the nation about his crackdown on the unvaccinated before news broke that he was exempting a powerful union ally.
The Washington Post reported Thursday night that his executive order forcing federal workers to take a COVID-19 vaccine does not include U.S. Postal Service workers.
Citing “a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss not-yet-public portions of the president’s plan,” the Post reported that those workers merely would be strongly encouraged to follow the mandate.
The Postal Service employs almost 650,000 people nationwide.
Many are represented by the American Postal Workers Union, which has been critical of vaccine mandates, saying in July that “it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent.”
The union endorsed Mr. Biden in the 2020 presidential campaign.
“This is stunning,” Post reporter Jacob Bogage tweeted in response to the news.
“One of the things we’ve learned during the pandemic is [that] the Postal Service is a key part of national infrastructure & homeland security. We’ve seen what’s happened to service when there have been pandemic-related staffing shortages. But USPS workers are exempt,” he said.
This is stunning. One of the things we’ve learned during the pandemic is the Postal Service is a key part of national infrastructure & homeland security. We’ve seen what’s happened to service when there have been pandemic-related staffing shortages. But USPS workers are exempt.
— Jacob Bogage (@jacobbogage) September 9, 2021
He went on to note for context that “OSHA will fine businesses with 100 employees or more $14k per vaccine/testing violation. But the US Postal Service, a Goliath of [a] federal agency, is exempt.”
Because the Postal Service is an independent agency of the executive branch, the Post explained, an executive order on federal employees’ labor issues does not apply to the agency, unless a president specifies that it does.
Health, The New York Today
