New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city government reached an agreement with four labor unions over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city employees. The unions as part of the deal agreed to withdraw a lawsuit they filed last month challenging the city’s right to implement the vaccine mandate. The agreement includes handling of vaccine exemptions and leave policies, according to a statement from the mayor’s office on Thursday. The four unions who signed the deal are District Council 37, New York City’s largest public employee union, local Teamsters, Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, and Service Employees International Union. They represent city employees of various professions. The agreement covers approximately 75,000 employees but excludes members employed at the City’s Department of Education (DOE) and Health+Hospitals (H+H), a public health care system. Over 92 percent of New York City workers under the mandate were vaccinated, the statement said. Among the City firefighters, …