A few of the major airline CEOs are telling the Biden administration their proposed mandates will not “fly” with them. What was supposed to be an integral part of forcing unwilling Americans to take the rushed COVID jabs is now looking like it’s crashing and burning.
Last weekend Southwest airlines reported far more cancellations than any other major airline. The Dallas-based company canceled more than 1,800-weekend flights and continued on Monday as more than 350 additional flights were taken off the schedule.
After reviewing the factors that lead to their poor performance, Southwest’s CEO Gary Kelly blamed Joe Biden’s Airline Vaccine Mandate. Kelly’s response was in light of a new Texas order from Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) that bans COVID-19 vaccine mandates by employers in the state. Southwest Airlines is both a federal contractor and based in Dallas, Texas.
“I’ve never been in favor of corporations imposing that kind of a mandate,” Kelly told CNBC on Tuesday morning. “I’m not in favor of that, never have been. But the executive order from President Biden mandates that all federal employees and then all federal contractors, which covers all major airlines, have to have a vaccine mandate in place by December 8. So we’re working through that.”
Delta Air Lines also appears to be proactively withdrawing from the mandate after watching Southwest airlines struggle. According to company CEO Ed Bastian, who notably emphasized the “divisiveness” of such an order, he is directing the company to ditch a vaccine mandate for employees.
Bastian said announcing a plan to get all employees vaccinated, without enforcing a mandate, has worked, allowing the company to reach a 90% vaccination rate.
“The reason the mandate was put in by [the] president, I believe, was because they wanted to make sure companies had a plan to get their employees vaccinated,” the CEO said, according to Fox Business.
“A month before the president came out with the mandate, we had already announced our plan to get all of our people vaccinated. And the good news is the plan is working.” Bastian “acknowledged that there will need to be religious and medical accommodations made for those who wish to remain unvaccinated while avoiding having to threaten employment status,” Fox Business noted.
“By the time we’re done, we’ll be pretty close to fully vaccinated as a company without going through all the divisiveness of a mandate,” the executive said. “We’re proving that you can work collaboratively with your people, trusting your people to make the right decisions, respecting their decisions, and not forcing them over the loss of their jobs.”
Via Daily Wire
Back in August, Dalta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian warned unvaccinated employees enrolled in Delta’s health care plan they would be subject to higher premiums to cover increased costs associated with COVID. Effective November 1, employees who have not been immunized against coronavirus will face a $200 increase in their monthly payments.
“The average hospital stay for COVID-19 has cost Delta $50,000 per person,” Bastian wrote in the memo. “This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company.”
Other changes detailed in the memo include requiring unvaccinated employees to wear face coverings in all indoor Delta settings, effective immediately.
President Joe Biden in September formally announced his administration would be mandating vaccination, testing, and mask requirements for not just federal employees, but many private businesses, too.
“Companies with at least 100 employees must require their employees to get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 tests under a new Biden administration plan to combat the coronavirus and encourage vaccination,” The Daily Wire reported at the time.
“President Joe Biden is scheduled to outline a revamped federal strategy to address COVID-19 that includes far more invasive regulations and restrictions than the federal government has put in place to date. Part of Biden’s six-point plan involves cracking down on 100+ employee companies to push their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.”
It must be frustrating for the airline industry which is already dealing with higher fuel costs and staffing issues. Now it must also worry about the COVID enforcers of the Biden Administration looking to force free people from being vaccinated against their will.
This situation is so unstable that I myself just passed on flying for a business meeting. Instead, I moved the meeting to another state and we will be driving our vehicles without the headaches and drama.
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