Southwest Airlines bas done an about face and will not place unvaccinated workers on paid leave after the December 8 deadline.
There’s a lot to say about what happened over the last several days, but we’ll start with the most important message: we’re sorry. Cancelling thousands of flights & displacing Customers isn’t what we want for you, nor is it what you should expect from us. swa.is/explanation
After thousands of flights were canceled and then one day after a huge protest by employees (see below), management had to back down. The Southwest Pilots Association also sued the airline leading the way for all other employees:
“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. Southwest Airlines’ additional new and unilateral modification of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement is in clear violation of the RLA.”
CNBC reports that Senior management at Southwest sent a letter to employees backing off the plan to put unvaccinated employees who have applied for but haven’t received a religious or medical exemption on unpaid leave:
“This is a change from what was previously communicated. Initially, we communicated that these Employees would be put on unpaid leave and that is no longer the case.”
A huge protest from Southwest employees yesterday:
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