City Of Evanston Secures Agreements With Police, Firefighter Unions On COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate

EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- The City of Evanston announced Tuesday that it has secured memoranda of understanding with its police and firefighter unions with regard to a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for city staff.

The policy, which goes into effect Monday, Nov. 15, requires all Evanston city employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or to submit negative test results weekly. The city has now reached memoranda of understanding with its Fraternal Order of Police and International Association of Firefighters unions.

"Our police officers and firefighters have served our community courageously throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and I am grateful to members of both unions for taking this additional, critical step to keep our community safe and healthy," Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said in a news release. "I would also like to thank Interim City Manager Kelley Gandurski and her team for coordinating the productive conversations that led to these agreements."

"Thank you to the FOP Patrol and IAFF unions, Health & Human Services Department, Law Department and Human Resources Division for working together in good faith to reach these agreements, which will make our entire community safer," Interim City Manager Kelley Gandurski said in the release. "I greatly appreciate our entire City staff team for their cooperation and continued hard work during this very challenging time in our history."

The City of Evanston is still working with the FOP sergeants and the AFSCME union to reach memoranda of understanding on the vaccine mandate.

To the south, a fight over a COVID-19 vaccination mandate continues between the City of Chicago and some municipal employee unions – particularly Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police.

City employees who have not been fully vaccinated have the option of being tested twice weekly for COVID-19 through the end of the year, but all city workers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 31.

However, enforcement of that vaccination deadline for police officers has been put on hold by a Cook County judge.