The Washington Teachers’ Union says it would support a coronavirus vaccine mandate for teachers if the union has input over how it is enacted — a slight shift from its previous stance that the mayor should allow unvaccinated teachers to continue working if they are tested weekly for the virus.
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D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is expected to make an announcement soon about whether she will require that city employees, including teachers, receive a vaccine as a condition of employment. Her administration said Friday that it has been negotiating over how noncompliant employees might be disciplined, among other issues.
The Washington Teachers’ Union’s openness to a possible mandate reflects a shift that has occurred nationally among teachers union leaders, many of whom had originally attempted to encourage their members to get a coronavirus vaccine while pushing back against efforts to require the shots.
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Early last week, for example, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in an interview that she feared a mandate could backfire and further politicize the reopening of schools, like debates over mask requirements. But soon after, she shifted her statements. In an interview Friday, she explained that she was now more open to the mandate as the delta variant continued to drive up case numbers and full Food and Drug Administration approval of the vaccines drew closer. She reiterated her stance in a weekend television appearance.
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“As a matter of personal conscience, I think that we need to be working with our employers, not opposing them, on vaccine mandates,” Weingarten said Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”
Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, said her union — which is part of the American Federation of Teachers — would follow suit.
“We’re going along with our parent organization,” she said Monday.
But Lyons said her position is nuanced, and she is only in support of a vaccine mandate if Bowser negotiates with the union on how it is enacted. For example, teachers will begin reporting to work for the upcoming school year on Aug. 20, and Lyons said she wants teachers to have accommodations if they have side effects after receiving a vaccine.
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She also wants to ensure that teachers with specific medical conditions or religious needs are exempt from a mandate.
More Washington-area schools will mandate masks in the fall
Absent being able to shape the mandate, Lyons said she thinks teachers should either be vaccinated or subject to weekly coronavirus tests.
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“We want the opportunity to review what the mandate would look like, and have a right to bargain over it, particularly since it [the vaccine] has not received full FDA approval,” Lyons said.
Lyons does not know how many D.C. teachers are vaccinated but said she is confident a majority have received both shots. Weingarten said about 90 percent of the 1.7 million teachers in her union are fully vaccinated.
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Discussions about vaccine mandates arrive as the nation’s coronavirus cases are rising and the more-contagious delta variant continues to kill unvaccinated Americans. The troubling case numbers could delay a return to normalcy in American classrooms as school districts attempt to determine amid divisive politics what health restrictions should be in place.
Vaccination rates are still stubbornly low in parts of the country and, because children younger than 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, parents say they want to know that their children’s teachers are vaccinated.
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“While masking, proper ventilation, physical distancing, and other safety measures are all critical to limiting the spread of COVID-19, we must ensure that the adults our children interact with daily are fully vaccinated,” states a petition circulating among D.C. parents that calls on the mayor to mandate teachers be vaccinated.
D.C. planning to require vaccinations for city employees.
Kim A. Anderson, executive director of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, said local chapters should have a say in mandates and the national union will back what these local groups want. But she added in an interview Monday that the union this week is reviewing its stance on the issue.
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The labor group is in frequent communication with scientists and public health officials, she said, and its positions are evolving as it learns more.
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“We want to make sure that educators have a voice in their own health and safety in working conditions,” Anderson said.
While the D.C. teachers union is the most powerful labor group in the city, multiple unions represent workers in D.C. school buildings, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents paraprofessionals and secretaries.
If the mayor imposes a vaccine mandate, it would probably apply to all city employees.
Some D.C. Council members said on a call with Bowser administration officials Friday that they would like to see a vaccine mandate in the District announced as soon as possible, particularly for teachers before the academic year starts. “I’m getting emails from parents who are extremely concerned, especially if they have children under 12,” said Elissa Silverman (I-At Large).
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“These are parents who are starting to say, ‘We’re going to look for alternatives if we don’t know what the vaccine policy is for DCPS .？.？.’ I would hate for that to be the reason people are pulling their kids out of DCPS.”
Lyons said she is also working with the school system to strike an agreement about updated safety protocols in the fall. She said she wants to have a written contract that lists agreed-upon student cohort sizes, ventilation requirements, quarantine rules and more. The city has already said that all vaccinated and unvaccinated adults and children are required to wear masks while in school buildings — a move Lyon said the union supports.
She said firm details about safety protocols are critical.
“There is an urgency for parents and there is an urgency for teachers — because the two groups prepare for what the school year will look like,” Lyons said.
Julie Zauzmer Weil and Laura Meckler contributed to this report.
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