New York City reaches an agreement with nine labor unions on Covid vaccine mandates.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has reached a deal with nine labor unions regarding how the city will handle unvaccinated employees under its tough new vaccination mandate. In exchange, the unions have agreed to drop their legal efforts to overturn the new policy, the city announced Thursday.

The nine unions collectively represent about 88,000 of the 160,000 employees covered by the latest mandate, which requires all city employees to get vaccinated for the coronavirus with no option to take a weekly test. The unions include District Council 37, Teamsters Local 237, the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association Local 831, and SEIU Local 300. ...

Under the agreements announced Thursday, union members have agreed to follow many of the same rules set up by an arbitrator to govern how the vaccine mandate is affecting the city’s teachers. The city’s vaccine mandate went into effect for about 150,000 education employees in early October.

Among the terms are strict rules that will limit religious exemptions to vaccination for city workers. Requests will only be considered for employees who are members of organized and recognized religions, accompanied by a letter from clergy. ...