The nation's largest health care union says it plans to oppose hospital COVID-19 vaccine mandates, setting up a showdown between workers and their employers around the country.
Earlier this month, NewYork-Presbyterian became the first hospital in the state, and one of the first in the country to require all employees to get vaccinated in order to keep their jobs.
The majority of staff, 70 percent have been vaccinated, officials say, and workers have until August 1 to apply for a medical or religious exemption.
But 1199SEIU, a union with more than 450,000 members between Florida, Maryland Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Washington, DC, represents workers at the hospital, and plans to fight the mandate on behalf of their members.
While the union encourages its members to get vaccinated, officials say they oppose vaccine requirements.
In December, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that employers were allowed to mandate that staff receive immunizations.
1199SEIU, the nation's largest healthcare workers union that represents employees at NewYork-Presbyterian, plans to oppose the vaccine mandate
'We are not in agreement with a mandate of the COVID-19 vaccine,' George Gresham, president of 1199SEIU, said in a statement earlier this month.
'A hard-handed approach will not work and will only create greater frustration for the healthcare heroes who have been battling this pandemic every day for the last 15 months.
'We agree that vaccination is an important tool to help us move forward, but mandating vaccination is not, nor will it ever, be the answer.'
Gresham, who has received a vaccine himself, said his union plans to fight against the mandate.
'Whether there is a legal challenge that we can make, or whether it's just a pure organizational challenge that we can make, we are not going to just give in,' he told Gothamist.
1199SEIU did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) has also voiced opposition to the vaccine mandates.
On its website,
