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July 26, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Teamsters Local 743 — part of a labor union with 1.3 million members — has filed a federal complaint to stop a COVID jab mandate affecting its members, which is being implemented by the healthcare company working with the union members.

Local 743 has asked a federal court in Illinois to stop the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Health and Welfare Pension Funds from deducting paid-time off from members who refuse to take the experimental COVID jab.

The Funds administer the retirement and healthcare plans for Teamster locals. They wanted to compel the employees of those Funds to receive vaccination against the coronavirus as part of returning to in-person work.

Union contracts often require employers to negotiate changes to employee contracts.

The new policy, which was not agreed to by the Teamsters Local, mandates that if a “[union] member is not vaccinated and does not have a religious or medical accommodation, he or she will lose paid time off, and will be subject to disciplinary procedures (including termination) once all the specified benefit time expires.”

Members of the union, which include warehouse workers and mail handlers, have a number of objections to the vaccine, detailed in the federal complaint.

Union members shared a number of concerns, detailed in the suit:

  • “The good faith objections to the vaccine are based on concerns of employees of the impact of the vaccine on heart inflammation, fertility, allergic reactions to flu shots in general, side effects of vaginal bleeding, Bell’s Palsy, sickness for up to two weeks after receiving a flu shot, concern about impacting the immune system, and blood clot.”

  • “An employee contemplating having a family has concerns that the vaccine could affect her fertility.”

  • “An employee with a history of diabetes, anemia and a concern for vaginal bleeding has consulted her doctor, who has advised her that she had a valid reason not to take the vaccine.”

  • “Employees believe that they have no uncoerced choice but are compelled to take the vaccine or face the prospect of losing their jobs and not having sufficient income to pay basic household expenses or to pay for health insurance to cover their family members.”

The concerns raised by the union members have been noted countless times both in vaccine reaction databases and by medical experts. An analysis of the United Kingdom’s vaccine side effect database found thousands of reports of disrupted menstrual cycles post-vaccination.

Viral immunologist and vaccine researcher Byram Bridle previously said the spike protein from the COVID jab could be the culprit behind blood clotting, reproductive health problems, and brain damage after people received the jab.

Other unions representing healthcare workers have objected to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.