Posted on 11/02/2021 8:59:45 AM PDT by george76
In Wichita, Kansas, nearly half of the roughly 10,000 employees at aircraft companies Textron Inc and Spirit AeroSystems remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, risking their jobs in defiance of a federal mandate, according to a union official.
"We're going to lose a lot of employees over this," said Cornell Adams, head of the local Machinists union district. Many workers did not object to the vaccines as such, he said, but were staunchly opposed to what they see as government meddling in personal health decisions.
The union district has hired a Texas-based lawyer to assist employees and prepare potential lawsuits against the companies should requests for medical or religious exemptions to vaccination be denied.
A life-long Democrat, Adams said he would no longer vote for the party. "They'll never get another vote from me and I'm telling the workers here the same thing."
The clock is ticking for companies that want to continue gaining federal contracts under an executive order by Democratic President Joe Biden, which requires all contractor employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8.
That means federal contract workers need to have received their last COVID-19 shot at least two weeks before the deadline to gain maximum protection, according to U.S. government guidance.
With a three-week gap between shots of the Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine, workers must get the first jab by Wednesday. If the government holds fast to its deadline, it is already too late to choose Moderna's vaccine, which is given in two doses four weeks apart. Workers could opt to get Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine until Nov. 24 to meet the deadline.
The mandate has stirred protests from workers in industries across the country, as well as from Republican state officials.
Opposition to the mandate could potentially lead to thousands of U.S. workers losing their jobs and imperil an already sluggish economic recovery, union leaders, workers and company executives said.
More legal clashes are likely over how companies decide requests for vaccination exemptions.
For the companies, time is getting tight, though the Biden administration has signaled federal contractors will not have to immediately lay off unvaccinated workers who miss the Dec. 8 deadline.
Under government guidance https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/faq/contractors published on Monday, companies will have flexibility over how to implement the mandate, which may allow them to avoid mass firings.
"A covered contractor should determine the appropriate means of enforcement with respect to its employee," the guidance said.
For Boeing Co in the United States, more than 7,000 workers have applied for religious exemptions and around 1,000 are seeking medical exemptions, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. That amounts to some 6% of the planemaker's roughly 125,000 U.S employees.
'ILLEGAL, IMMORAL AND IMPRACTICAL'
At a rally last week outside Boeing property in Auburn, south of Seattle, many of the three dozen workers gathered in driving rain said they would rather be escorted off Boeing property on Dec. 8 than take a vaccine. Others said they would pursue early retirement.
"The mandate is illegal, immoral and impractical," said one veteran Boeing program analyst who attended the rally. "We are standing together against a company and government trampling on our rights."
Many legal experts have said vaccine mandates in the interest of public health are legal.
The rebellion has put Boeing executives in a bind. The company could lose skilled staff, but must comply with a presidential order.
A Boeing spokesperson said the company was committed to maintaining a safe working environment for its employees.
The order's provision for religious and medical exemptions is causing more tension.
Two Textron workers who requested religious exemptions told Reuters the company's human resources representatives quizzed them on the name of their church leaders and asked detailed questions about their faith.
Textron declined to respond to questions, but in a statement said it was obligated to comply with Biden's order and was taking steps to do so.
"Employees who are unable to receive the COVID-19 vaccination due to a medical condition or sincerely held religious belief are being provided an opportunity to request an accommodation from this requirement," Textron said.
Spirit AeroSystems did not respond to a request for comment.
Raytheon Technologies' CEO Greg Hayes last week warned the U.S. defense firm will lose "several thousand" employees because of the mandate.
A group representing FedEx Corp, United Parcel Service Inc and other cargo carriers said it would be virtually impossible to have all their workforces vaccinated by the deadline.
Some companies have imposed vaccine mandates even absent immediate government regulation.
Mercedes-Benz USA, the U.S. unit of German carmaker Daimler AG which is not a U.S. government contractor, told employees in an October email seen by Reuters that proof of vaccination against COVID-19 would become a condition of employment beginning Jan. 4.
The carmaker said it implemented the move in anticipation of a separate U.S. government vaccine mandate that would apply to businesses with at least 100 employees, affecting some 80 million workers nationwide.
Less than half of the company's workers at U.S. import processing centers are vaccinated and many refuse to get a shot, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Mercedes USA in a statement said it had given employees 90-day notice to fulfill the requirement, adding that two thirds of its U.S. employees - not including factory workers in Alabama - have provided proof of vaccination to date.
"We expect that the vast majority of our employees will provide proof of vaccination before the deadline," the company said.
Ya. Scary times.
The America that we all once loved will be gone if they win.
Even a minority of workers fired or quit over the jabs will affect production. If the people putting in the dashboards and wiring harnesses in new vehicles are not at work, the line must stop.
The other ugly secret is how many of the remaining employees will quit because they will have to work a crushing amount of overtime to fill in for the un-jabbed who are fired.
This tyranny will destroy the country. Many who ARE jabbed will be quitting due to the exhausting workload thrust upon them.
You can’t hire “temps” for critical production jobs.
Do you want “labor pool” temps building Boeing airliners or modern jet fighters?
Yeah. The unions. Great guys, huh?
Absolutely silent while their puppet masters turn their members into cattle.
When you take everything away from someone, destroy their lives and harm their families or them...
A lot of the unvaccinated are highly-skilled people with years of experience
No company can survive the loss of a lot of these workers, they have skills that take years to learn properly
So if this mandate is fully enforced, it will destroy important parts of the US economy ... bong production won’t be affected, you can train anybody to make those, but planes, electronics, etc., anything high-tech will be sabotaged
has anyone even thought this through???
PRO CHOICE!
(This 70+ yr old chose vaccinations for himself, but respects the freedom of other American Citizens to choose for themselves and their families.)
C’mon man, building airplanes is easy, just have the Haitians and other illegals build them, hell they can pilot them too, it’s all good!/s
Fight on, brothers and sisters. Fight on!
So, basically Covid is Oceania (1984) or even the terrorists in Brazil (the movie).
“has anyone even thought this through???”
Of course they have.
L
The Mercedes factory is located in Vance, Alabama. Vance is in two counties, Tuscaloosa, which has 39% fully vaccinated, and Bibb county, which has only 31% vaccinated.
I’m not sure Mercedes can fire them all and expect to find new vaccinated workers in that area.
Guess they’ll just have to close down.
FJB!
This is starting to feel very much like the HP outsourcing that began in Silicon Valley in ‘98.
We started hearing from HP workers they were being forced out and if they trained in their replacements from India, they could stay 6 more months.
If they refused, they would be terminated in 2 weeks.
We were shocked when we heard this.
I’m thinking someone has a plan.
Performance on the job and within the contracts that companies hold with other parties.
How is it that anybody or any group or any company or any company’s employees be forced to abide by the rules of another company or government entity? The rules or laws or agreements to perform the work, were agreed to before any contract is/was signed. So, how is it that any government entity can force the company performing the work, to have its workforce vaccinated? Forcing vaccinations on a company is not what the agreements required.
If there isn’t a law currently in the books whereby the government can force a company’s workers to be vaccinated, then, the government is violating the agreement which they signed on to.
If there isn’t a law which protects companies from government edicts which were not in play at the time of the original contract agreement, then, the government is playing foul and should be stopped.
Well it helps China and other enemies of America
but why are US politicians so eager to do it?
just more pieces of silver for them?
A life-long Democrat, Adams said he would no longer vote for the party. “They’ll never get another vote from me and I’m telling the workers here the same thing.”
_________________________________________________________
It sure would be nice if our votes actually mattered anymore. Don’t worry, Adams, a Democrat thug will have already voted for you.
Acts 9:18 - - And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received sight forthwith...
Two Textron workers who requested religious exemptions told Reuters the company’s human resources representatives quizzed them on the name of their church leaders and asked detailed questions about their faith.
—
Why, that doesn’t sound the least bit intrusive in one’s personal life.
One political party hates normal Americans. They make no secret of it.
The other says they care about Americans but they do nothing to stop the headlong rush into absolute madness.
All of them partake in our revolving door government in one way or another. From Congresscritters to lobbyists, think tanks, law firms, it’s all become a giant racket.
There may be a dozen or so out of the 535 but that’s not enough to do anything about it.
L
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