Quote:Southwest Pilots Union Sues To Block Airline’s Vaccination Mandate
TOPICS:Air TravelEmploymentMandatory vaccinesTyler Durden
October 9, 2021
By Tyler Durden
In what appears to be one of the first cases of a union pushing back against the new COVID vaccination requirements handed down by the Biden Administration, a union representing pilots at Southwest Airlines is suing to stop the vaccine requirement from being forced until a lawsuit is resolved.
Bloomberg reports that the union representing Southwest’s pilots has asked a court to grant a temporary stay against the federal vaccination rules until an ongoing lawsuit over what they allege are violations of US labor laws is resolved.

In a court filing on Friday, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association also asked for an immediate hearing on the request before a federal court in Dallas, claiming the carrier has continued to take unilateral actions that violate terms of the Railway Labor Act, which governs relations between airlines and employee unions. The “unilateral action” in question is the company’s attempt (at the Biden Administration’s direction) to force workers to either get the jab, or be fired or sent on unpaid leave, Bloomberg reports.

Quote:“The new vaccine mandate unlawfully imposes new conditions of employment and the new policy threatens termination of any pilot not fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021,” the legal filing said. “Southwest Airlines’ additional new and unilateral modification of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement is in clear violation of the RLA.”

According to the guidelines set out by President Biden (and “voluntarily” embraced by most of the major airlines), Southwest has a deadline of Oct. 4 under the federal mandate for employees to get jabbed or have an approved medical or religious exemption. SW is affected by the mandate because it has contracts with the federal government (like many large businesses).
The union represents 9,000 pilots at the airline, and a strike could easily disrupt American air travel (remember the air traffic controllers strike in the 1980s?)
For whatever reason, the airline isn’t backing down, insisting that the vaccination mandate (which airline CEOs have gone on TV to defend) isn’t an issue subject to labor-management negotiation, and that anybody who refuses the jab without an exemption will be fired.
“The airline disagrees with SWAPA’s claims that any Covid-related changes over the past several months require negotiation,” Southwest said in an emailed statement. The carrier is committed to working with its unions “as we continue navigating the challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic.”

(10-10-2021, 08:36 AM)F2d5thCav Wrote: Sources are claiming the ATC workers at Jacksonville walked off the job Friday, and many flights there (hundreds) have since cancelled.  They walked off because of the jab requirement.

Cheers

(10-10-2021, 08:56 AM)F2d5thCav Wrote: @"727Sky" 

Check this out.

https://mobile.twitter.com/thomasbsauer/status/1446963506402660355

Cheers

(10-10-2021, 08:36 AM)F2d5thCav Wrote: Sources are claiming the ATC workers at Jacksonville walked off the job Friday, and many flights there (hundreds) have since cancelled.  They walked off because of the jab requirement.

Cheers

Quote:Southwest has canceled 1,006 Sunday flights as of 11 a.m. ET, according to flight tracker FlightAware. That's 27% of the the airline's scheduled flights and the highest of any U.S. airline by a wide margin.

The airline blamed the problem on air traffic control issues and weather. In a statement Saturday the airline expressed optimism its operations on Sunday would improve, not worsen.

(10-12-2021, 02:30 AM)ABNARTY Wrote: Been seeing posting else where from "US Freedom Flyers". No clue who they are but they sound like some sort of union/association/etc. 

They are trying to dissuade airline industry folks from calling in sick or not showing up. Comments to those posts are telling the Freedom Flyers to take a hike.

To be fair, I know so little of the details, I cannot comment one way or another.

(10-11-2021, 03:11 AM)727Sky Wrote: https://www.yahoo.com/news/southwest-airlines-flight-woes-continue-150820206.html

Quote:Southwest has canceled 1,006 Sunday flights as of 11 a.m. ET, according to flight tracker FlightAware. That's 27% of the the airline's scheduled flights and the highest of any U.S. airline by a wide margin.

The airline blamed the problem on air traffic control issues and weather. In a statement Saturday the airline expressed optimism its operations on Sunday would improve, not worsen.

(10-12-2021, 04:43 AM)Ninurta Wrote:

(10-12-2021, 02:30 AM)ABNARTY Wrote: Been seeing posting else where from "US Freedom Flyers". No clue who they are but they sound like some sort of union/association/etc. 

They are trying to dissuade airline industry folks from calling in sick or not showing up. Comments to those posts are telling the Freedom Flyers to take a hike.

To be fair, I know so little of the details, I cannot comment one way or another.

US Freedom Flyers is kinda like a fraternal organization for American pilots, or something like that. They are against vaccine mandates, but they are also against calling in sick, as they view that to be "illegal". Here's a news flash for them: slavery is also illegal in the US, so no one can FORCE you to work, legally. Take a day, go fishing... and if everyone takes the same day, that's just too damned bad for the totalitarians.

I say do whatever it takes to oppose totalitarians. If that means calling in sick en masse, then fuck the naysayers - - what they are doing is clearly not working! Calling in sick and freezing transportation, however, does seem to leave a mark...

.

Quote:Southwest CEO Gary Kelly had a major announcement on Tuesday about the vaccine mandate the airline recently issued: His company won’t be enforcing it.
During an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, the CEO said that no employees would be fired over the company’s vaccine mandate. Earlier, the airline announced that all employees needed to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 24 or face termination.
“We are not going to fire any employees over this,” Kelly said.

(10-13-2021, 01:35 PM)Kenzo Wrote: Southwest Airlines Is Collapsing – A Glimpse Of The Future And Hope

Quote:Joe Biden’s federal vaccine mandate is toothless. He cannot make it work. He cannot enforce it, and so the federal government has tried to ‘back door‘ a national vaccine mandate by pushing corporations to do their dirty work. Maybe the feds can’t really order you to take the jab, but if they can prevent you from earning a living without the vaccine, they can achieve the same objective.
It seems simple enough and strangely fitting for a government that is increasingly indistinguishable from giant multinational corporations, Big Tech, and the oligarchs that run the entire enterprise.
Except, a funny thing is happening. The people, those Neanderthals clinging to their Bibles and guns, who are supposed to do what they are told, pay taxes and fight the corporate wars are pushing back. Deserted by their elected representatives, who answer to their corporate masters, average Americans are refusing to comply.
Take a look at Southwest Airlines, and you will see exactly what this new civil disobedience looks like. You may also see the future.
The White House has pressed the airlines to adopt vaccine mandates using the leverage of federal contracts. United knuckled under first and announced a vaccine requirement. Southwest recently announced its employees had until December 8, 2021, to get vaccinated or lose their jobs.
The pilot’s union for Southwest Airlines responded to the mandate by filing suit and trying to block the action, but the pilots themselves are not waiting for court action to make clear where they stand. They have started using vacation and sick days and refusing to show up for work. Other employees have followed suit.
The entire airline has been brought to a standstill. The pushback began Friday when a grand total of 3 out of 35 employees showed up for work at the Jacksonville center. Almost every flight out of Orlando had to be canceled. Almost 50% of Southwest pilots remain unvaccinated. There is no indication that any large numbers are moving to get the vaccine. As bad as things are, they are going to get a lot worse.
Over the weekend Southwest canceled 1900 flights. As of the time this article was published it had already canceled 365 flights for Monday, and 600 more are “delayed.” Southwest Airlines is effectively shut down.
Southwest Airlines’ stock fell more than 4% on Monday when trading opened.