Southwest Airlines announced its vaccine mandate deadline on Monday. Southwest’s 56,000 employees will have until December 8 to complete their COVID19 vaccination. Employees who won’t be able to meet the vaccine mandate deadline can seek medical or religious exemptions. The airline did not elaborate on what will happen to employees who won’t meet the vaccine mandate deadline.
The White House announced last month that staff of federal contractors will need to be fully vaccinated. The new federal guidelines will also apply to businesses that have more than 100 employees. Southwest’s CEO Gary Kelly announced: “Southwest Airlines is a federal contractor and we have no viable choice but to comply”. For those who are looking to get medical or religious exemptions, Kelly said that the provisions are “very limited”.
Vaccine Mandate Deadlines
Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and American Airlines already announced their vaccine requirement for employees last week. The three airlines are also government contractors.
United Airlines announced its vaccine mandate earlier than other airlines. More than 96% of United’s employees submitted their proof of vaccination last week.
Delta Air Lines, which is also a federal contractor, announced that it is still examining the new federal vaccination guidelines. However, Delta hasn’t announced a vaccine mandate for its employees yet. Instead, it plans to charge $200 for its unvaccinated employees to cover for their healthcare premiums.
Delta announced that their approach works. In a statement, “Delta’s own approach to encourage a high rate of employee vaccination continues to work, with an 85% workforce vaccination rate and climbing daily”.
Pilots Unions Opposing Mandatory Vaccination
Vaccine mandates by American and Southwest faced opposition from pilots unions citing possible side effects of the vaccines. Pilots unions warned last week that having a vaccine requirement could result in staffing and operational problems. The Allied Pilots Association said in a statement that “We are also concerned that the Executive Order’s anticipated 60-day implementation period for mandatory vaccination could result in labor shortages and create operational problems for American Airlines and its peers”.
