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Wrong word, given the small numbers so far, but there seem to be lots more not leaving yet, but testing the waters. It seems like many want to see if there is enough push back to make for a large enough group that they can band together in large enough numbers to make enforcing the mandates impossible. I'm glad that is not happening so far, and I am not saying it will happen or it is at all likely to happen. But at a local level, the loss of even a small number of workers can hurt and represent a larger percentage than the small percentage we are seeing so far when looking at large areas.
Perhaps my level of concern over this possibility is higher than it should be by my getting a notice today from my kid's school about parents needing to drive their kids to school because of a lack of bus drivers, coupled with reading reports of more bus drivers threatening to quit or strike over vaccine mandates in NY. The email included a job ad if anyone of the parents wanted to be a bus driver, substitute teacher, or support staff, or knew anyone who wanted to fill those roles. My 2nd grader lost his teacher, as she is pregnant and simply did not want to put herself at risk. It has been a rotation of subs for a couple of weeks now, and the school district here has been desperate for subs, support staff and school bus drivers for awhile, which speaks to larger issues of equitable pay that I hope get addressed. Many of the areas of need that have long been understaffed that may be most affected by strikes or firings or people quitting are also areas that have overworked and underpaid employees. That may be a larger factor, but it all adds up to understaffing getting worse. I'd wager teacher staffing issues will get worse in NYC because of the mandates. This report suggested thousands of teachers and support staff in NYC would be forced out by the mandates, as only 81% of education workers are vaxxed in NYC right now: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/24/us/ne...ate/index.html
I am not arguing against the mandates by bringing up this concern. I brought up the issue, because no one else had brought it up. I am guessing Ken's point about unvaxxed nurses can be extended to teachers and education support staff, which is a fair point, working, as they are, with an unvaxxed population of students. I'm not saying it would be a good thing to keep those workers on, but merely that many areas are going to suffer because some people are willing to lose their job over getting the shots. Even if that number eventually falls from 20% to 2% of workers when push comes to shove, given that many schools were understaffed to begin with, it isn't going to be a good thing to figure out how to cope with such losses.
Perhaps my level of concern over this possibility is higher than it should be by my getting a notice today from my kid's school about parents needing to drive their kids to school because of a lack of bus drivers, coupled with reading reports of more bus drivers threatening to quit or strike over vaccine mandates in NY. The email included a job ad if anyone of the parents wanted to be a bus driver, substitute teacher, or support staff, or knew anyone who wanted to fill those roles. My 2nd grader lost his teacher, as she is pregnant and simply did not want to put herself at risk. It has been a rotation of subs for a couple of weeks now, and the school district here has been desperate for subs, support staff and school bus drivers for awhile, which speaks to larger issues of equitable pay that I hope get addressed. Many of the areas of need that have long been understaffed that may be most affected by strikes or firings or people quitting are also areas that have overworked and underpaid employees. That may be a larger factor, but it all adds up to understaffing getting worse. I'd wager teacher staffing issues will get worse in NYC because of the mandates. This report suggested thousands of teachers and support staff in NYC would be forced out by the mandates, as only 81% of education workers are vaxxed in NYC right now: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/24/us/ne...ate/index.html
I am not arguing against the mandates by bringing up this concern. I brought up the issue, because no one else had brought it up. I am guessing Ken's point about unvaxxed nurses can be extended to teachers and education support staff, which is a fair point, working, as they are, with an unvaxxed population of students. I'm not saying it would be a good thing to keep those workers on, but merely that many areas are going to suffer because some people are willing to lose their job over getting the shots. Even if that number eventually falls from 20% to 2% of workers when push comes to shove, given that many schools were understaffed to begin with, it isn't going to be a good thing to figure out how to cope with such losses.
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