UNCATEGORIZED

Dori: With ongoing emergency powers, Gov. Inslee imposes permanent vaccine mandate for state workers

Jul 1, 2022, 4:18 PM | Updated: 4:50 pm

(Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images)...

(Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images)

(Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images)

Want to get hired by Washington state or keep a state job?

A June 30 memo issued by Gov. Jay Inslee says you’re going to need to be vaccinated – and continue to get boosted against COVID-19 before July 2023 – or you can’t work for the state or a state contractor.

“It’s mindboggling,” Washington Policy Center’s Elizabeth Hovde told The Dori Monson Show after reviewing the memo.

“[COVID] is no longer a public health crisis,” Hovde told Dori’s listeners. “This is not reasonable or appropriate. It doesn’t serve the public or the state workforce.”

Dori: Will KC health director appointee push for mask mandate return after St. Louis finger-flip fray?

The move, according to Hovde, is bold because the governor is making the requirement permanent. And new to his mandates: keeping boosters up to date, as recommended by the Center for Disease Control. While the governor’s office has not offered any clarification, this could mean that to be an eligible state worker, you would need a COVID booster every three months.

“Staffing shortages in the public sector and among healthcare workers are exacerbated by the governor’s vaccine mandate – but he’s harming state services and ruining careers,” Hovde continued. “It makes no sense.”

Inslee – who has held emergency powers in the state for almost 850 days – also wants other leaders in Washington to follow his lead.

Inslee’s memo also calls “upon our higher education institutions, boards and commissions, and other separately elected officials to consider similar requirements within their agencies and jurisdictions.”

Hovde, a policy analyst and director for WPC’s Centers for Health Care and Worker Rights, told Dori’s listeners that the directive “just blows my mind.” She writes about it here.

“A lot of people have lost their livelihood and their career because of this mandate,” she said. “We should be saying `no.’ We’re coming into a recession. This is the last time we need people to be out of work.”

Listen to Dori Monson weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Uncategorized

Associated Press

Boeing lays off hundreds in Washington and California as part of cuts announced previously

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing has laid off hundreds of additional employees in Washington state and California as part of planned cuts that will eventually reduce the company’s workforce by about 17,000. Nearly 400 Boeing employees were laid off in Washington state and more than 500 in California, news outlets reported Monday. The aerospace giant announced […]

5 days ago

Troopers warn even big four-wheel-drive rigs can run into trouble when there's compact snow on the ...

Tom Brock

Snowy conditions in the Cascades brings ski season, difficult driving

Snowy conditions in the Washington Cascades brings ski season and difficult driving.

20 days ago

In this image provided by Eastside Fire & Rescue, officials survey the scene where a tree fell on a...

Associated Press

‘Bomb cyclone’ knocks out power and downs trees across northwest US, killing 1

SEATTLE (AP) — A major storm swept across the northwest U.S. Tuesday evening, battering the region with strong winds and rain and causing widespread power outages and downed trees that killed at least one person. The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks through Friday and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect as the strongest […]

25 days ago

Associated Press

Northern California and Pacific Northwest brace for atmospheric river

SEATTLE (AP) — Northern California and the Pacific Northwest are bracing for what is expected to be the strongest storm of the season so far, with heavy rain and winds set to pummel the region and potentially cause power outages and flash floods. The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks beginning Tuesday and lasting […]

26 days ago

Associated Press

Boeing issues layoff notices to 400-plus workers as it begins drastic cuts

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing has delivered layoff notices to more than 400 members of its professional aerospace labor union, part of thousands of cuts planned as the company struggles to recover from financial and regulatory trouble as well as an eight-week strike by its Machinists union. The pink slips went out last week to members […]

28 days ago

Associated Press

Police arrest a man after 5 people are stabbed in downtown Seattle

SEATTLE (AP) — Five people were stabbed on Friday afternoon in Seattle and one person was taken into custody, police said. The Seattle Police Department said on social media that the stabbing happened Friday afternoon in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. Four of the victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and one victim was […]

1 month ago

Dori: With ongoing emergency powers, Gov. Inslee imposes permanent vaccine mandate for state workers