United Airlines will require all 67,000 employees to be vaccinated - UPI.com
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Aug. 6 (UPI) -- United Airlines said Friday it will require all employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as a condition of employment, becoming the first major domestic airline to make that requirement for its workers.
United's employee mandate will cover all 67,000 employees who are active workers.
"We know some of you will disagree with this decision to require the vaccine for all United employees," Scott Kirby, United's chief executive, and Brett Hart, the company's president, wrote in a letter to employees, according to the Washington Post. "But, we have no greater responsibility to you and your colleagues than to ensure your safety when you're at work, and the facts are crystal clear: everyone is safer when everyone is vaccinated."
United's employees' union, IAM District 141, said employees will have to upload an image of their vaccination card to the company's "FlyingTogether" website by Oct. 25 but is encouraging members to do it earlier. The union said failing to file the proof of vaccination could lead to disciplinary action.
"Many companies already require vaccinations and other job-related medical examinations," the union said. "Medical staff, teachers and students, workers in the adult industry, and military service members are a few examples of occupations where vaccinations are required to protect employees from diseases."
The union said United has not been explicit on what repercussions workers will face if they refuse to follow the new guidelines.
"However, it seems clear that vaccinations will soon be a requirement for anyone wishing to hold a position at United Airlines in the [United States]," the union said. "Vaccinations are now considered to be a safety requirement at the airline. Actions by employees that affect safety can result in discipline."
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This should have been the routine from the gitgo.
It's a good start, now the rest of the airlines should follow suit.
Somehow, I seriously doubt if United Airlines is the "liberal elite".
The courts have said a vaccine mandate is legal for employers, so good for them. Will be interesting to see what the unions do in response.
And I really expect the other airlines to follow suit soon, I have a hard time seeing any in that industry who would be willing to risk losing customers due to non-vaccinated staff.
Good for United Airlines. They still suck ass in the service department
Do they ever. They have cancelled, for no reason, so many tickets my sister and I have bought for vacation travel. We've always managed to get them re-issued, but there's no panic like arriving at your gate with your boarding pass in hand and being told you don't have a seat on an international flight and ALSO don't have the money back that you paid for it.
But, yeah, crew must be vaccinated. Good move.
I think I've told my horror story about United and the worst airport in the country (Houston...they named it after Dubya...what do you expect?)
Houston was one of our bad experiences, too. But that was partly because they made us wait on the tarmac for 2 hours at Dallas after diverting due to weather, and wouldn't let us off that plane to rebook our flights out of Dallas. We missed our connection in Houston, had to fly to LA instead of our intended Palm Springs, rent a car, and drive in LA rush hour to Palm Springs.
2 bad experiences with Houston and United, same trip.
Stuck at airport for 6 hours while waiting for plane to take us to Vegas. When we finally got to Vegas, we had to be reimbursed for our first night stay. We were supposed to arrive Thursday evening but didn't make it there until 5 AM Friday. Coming back we flew to Houston to catch our plane to Little Rock and had to wait AGAIN for 3 hours because of another bird strike (that was their excuse for the first late flight)
I hate 'em
They have torn up two pieces of my luggage, lost my luggage on a trip to Scotland (delivered it 2 days after we landed), and cancelled tickets to both Ireland and Scotland (two separate trips). The Scotland trip, we went with a group, and my sister booked all of the tickets. They cancelled everybody's but mine, for some reason. So I had to fly separate from the rest of the group, both ways. I'm not afraid to travel alone, but some company would have been nice.