Raimond Spekking, Crain’s Chicago Business, Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
If you’ve tried getting on a plane in the last 5 months, then you’ll know how difficult it can be to navigate the airport as of late… Assuming your flight doesn’t get canceled at the last minute.
U.S. Airlines have been under fire and in the media over the controversy of vaccine mandates among employees.
Two major U.S. lawmakers recently accused the White House of pressuring airlines into requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID by December 8th, or they would face firing.
This mandate has put some major pressure on airlines to ensure that flights and travel continue to run smoothly, as the states continue to return to normal and travel picks up.
Reps. Sam Graves and Garrett Graves, both Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and aviation subcommittee respectively, wrote to Biden saying it “is unacceptable that your administration is using the threat of contractual measures as a coercion to single out American workers in a vital national industry.”
Out of the three major airlines, both Southwest and American Airlines have announced that they will meet the Dec 8th deadline, for federal contractors, and Delta has not announced their decision.
These mandates are only going to disrupt the operations of airlines, creating more last-minute flight cancellations and slower lines in the airport.
After Southwest announced that their workers must be vaccinated against COVID by Dec. 8th due to Biden’s mandate, there was a sudden cancellation by the airline of more than 2,000 flights.
Of course, in the media, this cancellation was due to “bad weather and air traffic control issues”, but after looking further then you would know that this happened right after the airline’s pilot union had asked for the court to block the companies vaccine mandates.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called out the airline and Biden for this incident.
Joe Biden’s illegal vaccine mandate at work!
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 10, 2021
Suddenly, we’re short on pilots & air traffic controllers.#ThanksJoe https://t.co/wviOzLt7Iv
Most Airlines announced the Dec. 8th deadlines but also allowed for employees who qualify to seek medical or religious exemptions.
United has also added that they would put staff members who can’t get vaccinated for those reasons on unpaid leave until the COVID rates drop.
So it’s either get vaccinated or don’t work…
They are basically forcing people to get vaccinated or find another job.
While most Airlines like United Airlines have already announced that more than 97% of their employees are already vaccinated, they are simply forgetting about the rest of their employees, who should still have the right to choose for themselves…
who cares about t airlines it not cheap t fly not t mention its not safe no matter what people say. i mean im 40 thousand feet in t air i dont think most of us r worried about a vaccine mandatr dont fly simple