Chicago mayor Lightfoot, police union clash after warning of 'consequences' for non-vaccinated city workers

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed Friday there would be "consequences" for any city employees who aren’t fully vaccinated by Oct. 15, according to reports, as the city continued negotiations with labor unions. 

The union said in a statement that the deadline would apply only to coronavirus testing and no one’s pay would be affected, adding that self-reporting of vaccination status was "voluntary."

But Lightfoot, a Democrat, denied there was leeway for union members.

"Every employee in the City of Chicago has to be vaccinated," she said in a news conference Friday, according to FOX 32 in Chicago. "I haven’t gotten the full reading from the meeting today, but it is foolish that we buried four police officers who have died of COVID. We just last week memorialized their stars at CPD headquarters."