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WASHINGTON, July 30, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The American Postal Workers Union (APWU), representing more than 200,000 employees throughout the U.S., this week condemned COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

“Maintaining the health and safety of our members is of paramount importance,” the APWU said, adding that although the union encourages voluntary vaccinations, “it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent.”

“Issues related to vaccinations and testing for COVID-19 in the workplace must be negotiated with the APWU,” the statement reads.

“At this time the APWU opposes the mandating of COVID-19 vaccinations in relation to U.S. postal workers.”

The statement by the postal workers union is at odds with the publicly stated view of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), of which the APWU is a member.

The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of unions in the U.S. and represents over 12.5 million people.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said on C-SPAN that the federation supports vaccine mandates.

“[President Joe Biden] has done a great job on COVID,” Trumpka said. “What we need to do now is get more people vaccinated, and I think the mandate is an acceptable way to do it.”

Despite the official stance of the AFL-CIO, the APWU was not the only member union to oppose the mandates.

As reported by The Hill, a New York union representing emergency workers with the New York City Fire Department released a statement earlier this week bucking Mayor Bill De Blasio’s order that all city employees show proof of vaccination or be subject to regular testing.

“FDNY EMS Local 2507 is strongly opposed to these new workplace mandates being forced upon all 4,300 of our members by Mayor de Blasio,” the union said. “The city and the mayor cannot simply disregard the civil liberties of the workforce.”

The Hill noted the New York union called the mandates “troubling” in light of the fact that none of the COVID-19 drugs on the market have yet received full approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The statements from the unions opposing forced vaccination came out just days before Biden announced federal employees will have to get the COVID-19 shot “or else face mandatory masking, weekly testing, distancing, and other new rules,” as reported by ABC.

The new requirements were put out by the White House yesterday and will apply to over 4 million Americans.

According to the White House statement, “Anyone who does not attest to being fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask on the job no matter their geographic location, physically distance from all other employees and visitors, comply with a weekly or twice weekly screening testing requirement, and be subject to restrictions on official travel.”

The White House statement noted that “President Biden is directing his team to take steps to apply similar standards to all federal contractors,” adding the “[a]dministration will encourage employers across the private sector to follow this strong model.”

The Biden Administration is also urging state and local governments to offer Americans $100 payouts as an incentive to get the experimental jab.

at the mandate earlier this week, saying it was “under consideration right now,” and adding that ”if you’re not vaccinated you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were.”hintedBiden had