More than 100 Southwest employees gathered outside Southwest Airlines’ headquarters on Monday to protest the carrier’s vaccine mandate. According to this footage, both current and former Southwest employees started to assemble at around 8:30 AM.
They call themselves the “Southwest cohearts” as they invite people via social media. Some of the messages on the signs included “Freedom not Force”, “Terminate the Mandate”, and “No Jabs for Jobs”.
In a video by a protester who identified himself as a pilot, he said that “I think it’s fairly well known our CEO is trying to mandate for all the employees, and this just all the employee groups represented here today”. He even called the vaccine mandate “medical tyranny”.
Southwest Airlines manager Deni Viggiano said that the protest is “To fight for ourselves and our medical freedom”. Viggiano added that the protest is “Not only for ourselves, but for our children”.
The carrier announced a vaccination deadline on December 8. Also, unvaccinated employees are at risk of termination. However, the airline allows employees to seek either religious or medical exemptions.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is an opponent of vaccine mandates, attended the protest. Paxton promised that there is legal action coming. He said that “We’re already planning our lawsuits”. Paxton added that “I’m already organizing with other states”.
Southwest along with American Airlines ignored Texas Governor Greg Abbot’s executive order that bans the federal vaccine mandate.
In August, pilots filed a lawsuit against the airline and argued that Southwest needs to maintain the same working conditions, pay, and rules while a new contract is under negotiation with the union. According to the union, the company’s policy changed several times since the pandemic started.
Southwest explained that the carrier had to retract its health policies. According to Southwest, the carrier could lose its federal contracts if it didn’t comply with Biden’s executive order.
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