(Much Less than 50%)

CHICAGO — The chief of the union that represents rank-and-file Chicago police officers warned that the force could be at half-strength over the weekend as a result of a City Hall mandate that officers must be either vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested regularly for the coronavirus.

Saying the mayor's office has refused to bargain in good faith, John Catanzara, head of Chicago Lodge 7 of the Fraternal Order of Police, or FOP, said the union planned to file a class action lawsuit if city officials follow through on a promise to place police officers into "no-paid" status for refusing to participate in the city's vaccination portal.

"All I can tell you is, if, [as] we suspect, the numbers are true, and we get a large number of our members to stand firm on their beliefs, that this is an overreach, and they're not going to provide the information in the portal or submit to testing, then it's safe to say that the city of Chicago will have a police force at 50 percent or less for this weekend coming up," Catanzara said Tuesday in a video message.

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