COVID vaccination or else
Airline workers face a choice as borders open- Unruly update
September 23, 2021
A flight attendant told me, “it gets real when your livelihood is on the line.” A deadline is looming for United Airlines employees. In a matter of days, if workers haven’t been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 they will lose their jobs. United’s plan may be the most aggressive, but the entire industry, like much of corporate America, is in a race to get its workforce vaccinated.
It seems to be working. Last week, United said nearly 90% of its 67,000 workers had been vaccinated. By early this week the number was up to 97%. If the other 3% of workers are not given a religious exemption, they will have until September 27th to get vaccinated or be “separated from the company.”
CARROT, STICK OR BOTH?
Other airlines are hitting unvaccinated workers in the pocketbook. Delta says as of November 1, it will impose a $200 a month surcharge on workers who haven’t been vaccinated. That prompted more workers to take the vaccine with Delta’s vaccination rate increasing from 75% to 81%.
Southwest and American Airlines have told unvaccinated workers they will no longer receive “special leave,” or “quarantine pay.” Workers will be forced to use their personal sick time if they become infected or have to quarantine. The two airlines are also offering a carrot. Those who get vaccinated will be given an extra day or two ('s worth) of pay. Southwest says it doesn’t publicly share the vaccination rate of its workforce.
This spring the airlines were feeling a tailwind of returning flyers. That was until the emergence of the Delta COVID variant. Summer travel is over and business travelers are still mostly missing in action, leaving the airlines dealing with another slowdown.
TRAVEL BAN TO BE LIFTED
There is one bright spot- the Europeans are coming. The White House announced last week it is lifting the ban on travel to the US by foreign nationals. Travelers will have to be vaccinated and have a negative COVID test three days before traveling. The White House also says the CDC will set up a contact tracing system.
Americans have been traveling to Europe for some time now. Europeans have not come to the US to visit. I just returned from Greece and talked to a number of residents who wondered why the White House hadn’t taken action earlier. Vaccination rates in much of Europe are similar to the US. It would have been better for the White House to make this move earlier in the summer when the President visited Europe.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki explaining why the travel ban wasn't lifted in July. (Credit: White House)
The President's Press Secretary said they listened to working groups that had to report before a decision was made.
UNRULY PASSENGER ISSUE TO THE HILL
Those traveling to the US will have to wear masks on board aircraft, just as Americans have been required to do so. Those mask mandates have led to rising incidents known as unruly passenger cases. Flight attendants have been abused verbally, spat upon, and had items thrown at them.
Sara Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants testifies to House Aviation sub-committee.
Congress is now getting involved. The House sub-committee on aviation held a hearing Thursday with Flight Attendant representatives outlining the nastiness in the air. The Department of Homeland Security is doubling fines, and the FAA says it has issued $1 million dollars in fines. But few if any of those fines have been paid because the passengers get due process and can appeal.
That system is not working according to two US Senators. “Civil fines are not a sufficient deterrent to curb the recent tide of unruly passengers,” the two democrats wrote in a letter to the Attorney General. Washington’s Maria Cantwell and Illinois’ Dick Durbin tell the AG, “Robust and public efforts to prosecute those who endanger passengers and crew members are necessary to deter interference with safe air travel.”
The Senators join flight attendant associations, airline associations, and pilots who all asked the DOJ, months ago, to increase prosecutions.