Workers at multiple airlines across the United States are protesting against聽COVID-19 vaccination mandates after several carriers announced employees must get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs.
Hundreds of American Airlines (AA) workers鈥攊ncluding pilots and flight attendants in uniforms鈥攖ook to the streets outside the聽company’s Fort Worth, Texas headquarters on Thursday to protest against the new measures, 聽Dallas Morning News reports.
Many of them brandished signs reading “Mandates won鈥檛 fly” and “Don鈥檛 fire my Dad” in response to the new rules, while some protestors said they were聽skeptical of the effectiveness of the vaccine and concerned about unreported side effects.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hasn’t reported any long-term side effects from the approved COVID-19 vaccines, noting that聽they have undergone and will continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history.
American Airlines聽told workers in an email Wednesday night that they have to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 24 or face termination.
company said it is providing an extra day of vacation pay and other incentives for employees who submit proof of vaccination by the November deadline and that聽employees will be able to seek religious or health exemptions to vaccination.
Southwest Airlines (SWA) also announced it will require all of its聽56,000聽U.S. employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Biden administration last month issued an聽executive order聽requiring all federal contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, unless they are granted a religious or medical exemption.
Contractors that don鈥檛 comply may lose out on government contracts.聽Large U.S. airlines have a number of federal contracts.
Dallas-based airline said in a press release聽on Oct. 4 that it had conducted a “thorough review” of the new rules from the Biden administration, and determined that its contracts with the U.S. government “require full compliance with the federal vaccination directive.”
U.S.-based employees of the major carrier have to be fully vaccinated or have an approved religious, medical, or disability accommodation by Dec. 8 to keep their jobs.
Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), a union, announced on Oct. 5 that it would be filing a temporary restraining order against SWA to聽stop the company from carrying forward its mandate. order forms part of a聽lawsuit that SWAPA filed on Aug. 30聽challenging forced time off and other changes to working conditions imposed by the airline during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want to be perfectly clear: SWAPA is not anti-vaccination, but we do believe that, under all circumstances, it is our role to represent the health and safety of our pilots and bring their concerns to the company,”聽SWAPA said in a statement.
SWAPA has authorized its members to demonstrate against the mandate and strenuous working conditions during the pandemic and聽has also authorized $1 million in support of those protests, which could begin this fall, according to SWAPA president Casey Murray, News Week reports.
Allied Pilots Association, a聽labor union representing American Airlines pilots, said on Wednesday that it “expects management to meet its obligations under the Railway Labor Act to negotiate the implementation and effects of this mandatory vaccination requirement on our pilots.”
聽Railway Labor Act seeks to promptly resolve disputes between airline carriers and their employees and protects the rights of workers to collectively bargain.
United Airlines was the first U.S. carrier to mandate vaccines for its domestic employees, having announced its mandate in August. It聽confirmed on Sept. 29聽that it was going to terminate 593 of its employees who have chosen to not comply with the company鈥檚 vaccine mandate.
Delta Air Lines remains a major U.S. carrier that has chosen not to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all its employees, although it does require all new U.S. employees to be vaccinated, and that all unvaccinated Delta staff enrolled in its health care plan聽pay a $200 surcharge.
Mimi Nguyen Ly and Reuters contributed to this report.
Pezou : Hundreds of American and Southwest Airlines Employees Protest Against Vaccine Mandates