Reports of possible sickout by some Seattle City Light workers frustrated over COVID vaccine mandate

Seattle City Light is preparing for the possibility of a sick leave Tuesday from some workers who are reportedly upset that city workers must be given the COVID-19 vaccine, according to city officials.

The agency “was made aware of an orchestrated action so that important personnel on Tuesday, 7.

Vargo’s message describes the possible sickness report as a violation of the existing collective agreement between IBEW Local 77 and the city.

“All participating individuals are recommended for disciplinary action, up to and including termination,” wrote Vargas.

The city became aware of the possible action after hearing about it from multiple sources, according to Kelsey Nyland, spokeswoman for Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.

Currently, city officials believe the potential action is “not being driven or supported by the union leadership and the city has been in contact with union officials on the matter,” Nyland wrote in an email.

“SCL has learned that some line crew chiefs who are members of IBEW Local 77 are considering orchestrated action to get sick on Tuesday,” wrote Nyland. “SCL has heard that this potential move is in response to the Seattle city vaccination requirements that will go into effect on October 18th.”

Calls and emails to IBEW Local 77 officials asking for comments were not answered.

The workers who may be involved are part of the High Voltage Line Group, which works on high voltage electrical distribution and transmission lines, according to Nyland.

SCL is a public utility that powers more than 460,000 commercial and residential properties in the city of Seattle and a handful of other communities in the area. The service area includes about 940,000 people, according to the SLC website.

According to Nyland and Vargo, SCL has contingency plans in place to maintain electrical services for customers and complete work on critical infrastructure.

“At the start of the pandemic, we have an ongoing operating process and plan to fall back on,” Vargo said in an interview. “We’ve probably spent more time lately talking about what this looks like … to make sure we can at least respond to outages and then to critical maintenance and infrastructure projects.”

Nyland says the city continues to negotiate in good faith with IBEW Local 77 and other unions about the impact of mandatory vaccination, such as the process for evaluating requests for immunization exemptions.

The potential disease outbreak comes when government employees’ pockets seething with emergency orders forcing them to get vaccinated or lose their jobs. At least 1,000 local, county and state government employees gathered in the Capitol late last month to protest the mandates.

The three vaccines approved in the United States have been tested and shown to be safe and effective in preventing people from being hospitalized or killed by the virus.

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration granted the Pfizer vaccine full approval. For people hesitant because of the new technology in this one or the Moderna shots, there is Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, which is made using a more traditional method.

As of February, Washingtonians 12 and older who weren’t fully vaccinated accounted for nearly 94% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state, as well as nearly 95% of hospital admissions and 93% of deaths, according to state health officials.

Still, anger over the vaccine mandates has officials concerned about the threat of potential worker brain drain when the mandates go into effect October 18 for Seattle, King County and the state government.

State officials are concerned that sectors – like the Washington State Patrol and the ferry system – could be harmed if workers quit or retire.

Some of these concerns also exist in Seattle.

A statement by IAFF Local 27 firefighters and paramedics in Seattle last week said the union was “strongly” encouraging workers to receive the vaccine.

But, “Our workforce has a multitude of strong beliefs about vaccination regulations,” the statement said, and any loss of workers beyond the regulations could be harmful.

“Our highly skilled and experienced firefighters and paramedics from Seattle cannot simply be replaced,” said union president Kenny Stuart in the statement. “Our department is already understaffed and the unexpected departure of even a small percentage of our experienced first responders would have an impact on public safety in Seattle.”

Daniel Beekmann: 206-464-2164 or dbeekman@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @dbeekman. Seattle Times reporter Daniel Beekman covers the Seattle city government and local politics.