Biden's new vaccine requirement meets pushback from unions who helped elect him

President Biden's new mandate that federal workers get vaccinated is prompting pushback from some of the unions that helped put him in office, threatening his support.

A commitment to American labor helped fuel President Joe Biden's bid for the White House as he promised to be "the most pro-union president you've ever seen." It was an embrace that many of the major federations, associations, teamsters and brotherhoods in the nation requited by endorsing his candidacy. But the support for Biden's leadership that united more than 50 union groups during the campaign threatened to splinter publicly this week, over mixed reception of his plan to require federal workers get the COVID-19 vaccine or face regular testing and other restrictions. Even before Biden's announcement, segments of the federal workforce rumbled with dissension. Some groups representing large numbers of workers raised preemptive objections. "It is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent," the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) said in a statement the day before Biden made his announcement, adding that they encourage members to "voluntarily get vaccinated."