The airlines are spinelessly softening their original demands that all employees be vaccinated

[Celerity]

Southwest and American Are Making a Dangerous Mandate Mistake

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-20/southwest-and-american-s-vaccine-mandates-won-t-work-unless-enforced

Covid-19 vaccine mandates are only as good as the people enforcing them. And it seems the executives running Southwest Airlines Co. and American Airlines Inc. could use more backbone. For inspiration, they can look to United Airlines Inc.’s managers, or to mayors, governors and college presidents around the country.

Last week, Southwest and American gamely pushed back against Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s effort to forbid companies headquartered in his state to impose mandates. Both airlines issued statements saying their first responsibility was to follow the Biden administration’s planned federal mandates. In the days since, however, the two Texas-based airlines have shown less gumption.

Link to tweet

American originally told employees they would have to be vaccinated or lose their jobs, and eventually imposed a Nov. 24 deadline. It invited employees with religious, medical or disability claims to apply for an exemption. But American’s flight attendants’ union said management recently indicated that employees who have applied for exemptions can keep working — a concession that weakens the mandate. Southwest first told its employees they had to be vaccinated by Dec. 8 to keep their jobs unless they received an exemption. Employees who applied for exemptions would be placed on unpaid leave while applications were reviewed. But more recently, Southwest told employees that anyone seeking an exemption would not be placed on leave — and encouraged them to apply. I imagine that might persuade many Southwest employees who are opposed to vaccination to take that advice and dodge the mandate.

Maybe this shouldn’t be surprising. Gary Kelly, Southwest’s chief executive officer, told CNBC last week he wasn’t fully behind this public health stuff. “I’ve never been in favor of corporations imposing that kind of a mandate,” he said. “I’m not in favor of that, never have been.” But he had federal guidelines to follow, he allowed. “My goal obviously is that no one loses their job. The objective here obviously is to improve health and safety, not for people to lose their jobs.”

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