The board of directors of the state-owned Alaska Railroad has voted unanimously to rescind the vaccination mandate it had imposed on employees just days earlier. According to the Anchorage Daily News, last Friday, it had emailed employees:
“Over the last six weeks, we’ve carefully reviewed additional EO guidelines and our interactions with federal agencies to determine if the Alaska Railroad is affected. We are. As a federal contractor, ARRC must meet this standard,”
The railroad stands to lose millions of dollars a year in federal contracts and grants, and possibly access to Forest Service land housing some facilities. This is no small item for a company with only $209 million in revenue in 2019.
The move is a stunning turnaround and must reflect both threats of loss of vital personnel and political support for the move from the state’s politicians.
Alaska Railroad board members who voted to block the mandate said during Tuesday’s virtual meeting that they were deeply reluctant to require vaccinations of employees.
“We’ve been put in a very difficult position by the federal government,” said John Shively, board chair. “There’s not a single board member that likes this at all,” he said.
“I think it might be premature to do something that ultimately could be harmful to Alaska railroad families and the railroad itself,” added John Binkley, the board member who proposed the stop-order.
”We have one of our U.S. senators that has implored us and others within the state of Alaska not to make these decisions until there is more certainty on what direction is the country is headed on this,” Binkley said during Tuesday’s meeting, referencing comments U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan made in a speech on the Senate floor last week.