Arguments conclude on vaccines for transit employees
An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge said he will decide soon whether Port Authority employees must comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate by mid-March.
Closing arguments were made Tuesday in the case between Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, which represents approximately 2,300 employees, and the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which mandated all workers receive at least one shot of the vaccine by March 15.
Employees who refuse the shot without being granted a religious or medical exemption will face disciplinary actions, including termination, under the policy.
Attorneys for the union argued Judge John T. McVay should issue a stay, which would at least temporarily halt the mandate deadline, until they could bargain with the agency about the matter.
“It’s hard to imagine something that’s more important or more significant to bargain over than this,” said union lawyer Joe Pass during his closing argument.
The Port Authority, however, argued that the vaccine requirement falls under managerial rights, adding that the level of vaccinations reached without a mandate — approximately 70% of the agency’s workforce — was insufficient, noting that three employees died from COVID-19 even after vaccines were readily available.
“It’s not the correct characterization to say that we felt we had to bargain everything related to vaccines,” said attorney Josh Hausman, who delivered the Port Authority’s closing arguments.
With the Port Authority’s chief legal officer, Michael Cetra, on the stand Tuesday, the agency tried to argue that lagging vaccination rates among employees proved that a mandate was essential to continue safely serving the public.
“I would say the consensus was [that] it was a step in the right direction,” Mr. Cetra testified on the agency’s earlier efforts to mitigate virus spread.
At first, some employees were offered financial benefits and incentives for getting their shots. But while the union’s attempts to get more people inoculated were appreciated, he said “it wasn’t enough” as they
struggled to pass a 70% vaccination rate.
As it stands now, Mr. Cetra said the Port Authority didn’t see any way it could pass even the 80% threshold without a requirement, saying the numbers of unvaccinated employees was “absolutely not” acceptable.
But Mr. Pass noted in his cross examination that some employees, such as those who worked the last two years sanitizing buses to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, have said they would retire before getting their vaccine.
“That’s not the kind of guy you want to lose, is it?” Mr. Pass asked.
“I hope we don’t,” Mr. Cetra replied.
If the mandate were enacted, it would result in irreparable harm to the employees, Mr. Pass argued, 319 of whom have already requested an exemption to the requirement. Only 50 of those requests were granted, 10 of which were done on a temporary medical basis.
While some harm, such as termination, can be remediated, the administration of a vaccine cannot, Mr. Pass said. Those who choose to leave the Port Authority will leave the agency with a dearth of operators and other employees, negatively impacting the public, he said.
Mr. Hausman pushed back on that, saying the theory that everyone will remain unvaccinated by the deadline is contrary to the evidence provided by vaccine mandates in other parts of the country.
He noted that transit agencies, such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in California, and the U.S. military saw internal vaccination rates skyrocket after mandates were put in place, saying the Port Authority was hopeful that employees faced with a requirement would rather take the shot than be fired or retire.
“This idea that we are facing a service cataclysm is not just speculative, it is inconsistent with the way trends are moving,” Mr. Hausman said.
Judge McVay applauded both the union and the agency for their prior efforts to collaborate to keep the public and the Port Authority workers safe from the virus thus far.
He said he would decide on whether to issue a stay on the matter in a week, but said he would not make a final judgment for some time.