HOPE Response to Covid Testing Mandate

Executive Order Mandates Covid Testing for Non-Vaccinated City Employees

HOPE members have been on the frontlines serving our communities since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Your union has been calling for regular testing, outbreak notices, disinfection updates, and other pandemic concerns since March of 2020 to keep our members safe. While City Leadership has worked with HOPE in the recent past, we are alarmed at how this recent policy has come about without members being involved.

Regardless of any of our individual positions on vaccines or mandatory testing, what is clear is that your union does not support any mandate concerning working conditions, employee health, or terms of employment unless the Mayor negotiates with HOPE Local 123 Members to ensure that the public service heroes of this pandemic are treated fairly.

Follow the Link HERE to see the Official Correspondence sent to the Mayor and City Council.

Your HOPE President and Executive Director met with Human Resources on Thursday, September 9th, for answers to some of the many questions City Employees have asked us and to call for the City of Houston to begin negotiations on this policy immediately.

What can City Employees do NOW???

Many HOPE Members took the HOPE Covid Testing and Vaccination Mandate survey​ to make sure that critical feedback was attained before any bargaining around this Executive Order would begin​. These responses will make sure that HOPE Members can actively participate in guiding any future policy on testing or vacination mandates, including being a part of the committee to address this important issue.

​
We can't forget that the strength of any negotiations depends on how we stand together as a Union. Follow the link HERE to Take Action, (which includes Joining your HOPE Union if you're not yet a member.)​ Stay connected to what's going on via your HOPE Facebook, emails like this one, or your nearest HOPE Leader.

You can also connect to your Comprehensive HOPE Member Coronavirus-19 Information Linked HERE with links to various resources so that you can keep yourself and your family safe.

HOPE President, Roy Sanchez
HOPE Executive Director, Brian Shepherd

hope_official_response_to_testing_mandates_and_vaccine_notification.pdf

PDF icon hope_official_response_to_testing_mandates_and_vaccine_notification.pdf