We’ve seen airlines caving to Joe Biden and the vaccine mandate threats because they all are federal contractors and want to be able to hold onto those contracts. Biden’s vaccine mandate on federal employees includes a mandate for federal contractors, as well.
Delta Airlines, however, is taking a completely different route and making an important point. It shouldn’t be courageous to say that you stand for personal freedom in the United States of America, but it does seem so these days. Delta is the sole one that has not complied with the COVID vaccine mandate. However, they are able to administer 90% of their vaccinations without imposing anyone.
CEO Ed Bastian said they had “work[ed] collaboratively” with their employees on the subject, but respected their own decisions. This is a great idea.
“By the time we’re done, we’ll be pretty close to fully vaccinated as a company without going through all the divisiveness of a mandate,” he said. “We’re proving that you can work collaboratively with your people, trusting your people to make the right decisions, respecting their decisions and not forcing them over the loss of their jobs.”
Bastian stated that religious and medical accommodation would be granted to those who want them and would not be threatened by termination.
Wonder of wonders: Bastian said that Delta had a “low cancelation rate” and had overall operational balance including 116 “perfect days” without any cancelations. See how that works when you don’t have a mandate and aren’t threatening your employees?
“Delta’s done a great job all year long with making certain that we’re managing supply and demand in equilibrium,” he said. “Our people are doing a great job.”
“I can’t give enough thanks to the Delta team, providing a great product for our customers and it’s one of the reasons we were profitable this quarter.”
We are seeing that many other airlines have been in serious trouble. With all the cancellations, we saw what happened to Southwest last weekend. There are also problems with American Airlines and United Airlines over this mandate. United recently fired 232 workers. Southwest pilots as well as United employees filed lawsuits against respective companies. United was prohibited by the court from making unpaid leave for any employees who are granted religious or medical exemptions to COVID-19 vaccines. A temporary restraining order was also issued by the court, which prohibited United from refusing any religious or medical exemption requests. American pilots stated that they could face shortages on their way to there, provided an alternative is found.
As we go into the holidays, before the deadline requirement set by the government of Dec. 8, we’re likely to see all kinds of “issues” and “bad weather” problems to explain more cancelations. At least it’s nice to know that one company has at least some respect for its employees.
