Posted on 11/02/2021 8:59:45 AM PDT by george76
In Wichita, Kansas, nearly half of the roughly 10,000 employees at aircraft companies Textron Inc and Spirit AeroSystems remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, risking their jobs in defiance of a federal mandate, according to a union official.
"We're going to lose a lot of employees over this," said Cornell Adams, head of the local Machinists union district. Many workers did not object to the vaccines as such, he said, but were staunchly opposed to what they see as government meddling in personal health decisions.
The union district has hired a Texas-based lawyer to assist employees and prepare potential lawsuits against the companies should requests for medical or religious exemptions to vaccination be denied.
A life-long Democrat, Adams said he would no longer vote for the party. "They'll never get another vote from me and I'm telling the workers here the same thing."
The clock is ticking for companies that want to continue gaining federal contracts under an executive order by Democratic President Joe Biden, which requires all contractor employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8.
That means federal contract workers need to have received their last COVID-19 shot at least two weeks before the deadline to gain maximum protection, according to U.S. government guidance.
With a three-week gap between shots of the Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine, workers must get the first jab by Wednesday. If the government holds fast to its deadline, it is already too late to choose Moderna's vaccine, which is given in two doses four weeks apart. Workers could opt to get Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine until Nov. 24 to meet the deadline.
The mandate has stirred protests from workers in industries across the country, as well as from Republican state officials.
Opposition to the mandate could potentially lead to thousands of U.S. workers losing their jobs and imperil an already sluggish economic recovery, union leaders, workers and company executives said.
More legal clashes are likely over how companies decide requests for vaccination exemptions.
For the companies, time is getting tight, though the Biden administration has signaled federal contractors will not have to immediately lay off unvaccinated workers who miss the Dec. 8 deadline.
Under government guidance https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/faq/contractors published on Monday, companies will have flexibility over how to implement the mandate, which may allow them to avoid mass firings.
"A covered contractor should determine the appropriate means of enforcement with respect to its employee," the guidance said.
For Boeing Co in the United States, more than 7,000 workers have applied for religious exemptions and around 1,000 are seeking medical exemptions, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. That amounts to some 6% of the planemaker's roughly 125,000 U.S employees.
'ILLEGAL, IMMORAL AND IMPRACTICAL'
At a rally last week outside Boeing property in Auburn, south of Seattle, many of the three dozen workers gathered in driving rain said they would rather be escorted off Boeing property on Dec. 8 than take a vaccine. Others said they would pursue early retirement.
"The mandate is illegal, immoral and impractical," said one veteran Boeing program analyst who attended the rally. "We are standing together against a company and government trampling on our rights."
Many legal experts have said vaccine mandates in the interest of public health are legal.
The rebellion has put Boeing executives in a bind. The company could lose skilled staff, but must comply with a presidential order.
A Boeing spokesperson said the company was committed to maintaining a safe working environment for its employees.
The order's provision for religious and medical exemptions is causing more tension.
Two Textron workers who requested religious exemptions told Reuters the company's human resources representatives quizzed them on the name of their church leaders and asked detailed questions about their faith.
Textron declined to respond to questions, but in a statement said it was obligated to comply with Biden's order and was taking steps to do so.
"Employees who are unable to receive the COVID-19 vaccination due to a medical condition or sincerely held religious belief are being provided an opportunity to request an accommodation from this requirement," Textron said.
Spirit AeroSystems did not respond to a request for comment.
Raytheon Technologies' CEO Greg Hayes last week warned the U.S. defense firm will lose "several thousand" employees because of the mandate.
A group representing FedEx Corp, United Parcel Service Inc and other cargo carriers said it would be virtually impossible to have all their workforces vaccinated by the deadline.
Some companies have imposed vaccine mandates even absent immediate government regulation.
Mercedes-Benz USA, the U.S. unit of German carmaker Daimler AG which is not a U.S. government contractor, told employees in an October email seen by Reuters that proof of vaccination against COVID-19 would become a condition of employment beginning Jan. 4.
The carmaker said it implemented the move in anticipation of a separate U.S. government vaccine mandate that would apply to businesses with at least 100 employees, affecting some 80 million workers nationwide.
Less than half of the company's workers at U.S. import processing centers are vaccinated and many refuse to get a shot, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Mercedes USA in a statement said it had given employees 90-day notice to fulfill the requirement, adding that two thirds of its U.S. employees - not including factory workers in Alabama - have provided proof of vaccination to date.
"We expect that the vast majority of our employees will provide proof of vaccination before the deadline," the company said.
Freedom’s just another word...
I’m hoping the alligator eats me last.
THAT just went out to my mailing list!
I don't think punching up a new program to tell the CNC machine how to create a part is all that difficult.
I shudda read ahead!
Wow - are you Mike Bloomberg???
So true!
Revelation 13:5-8
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.
6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.
7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
I only get a screen that wants my email address.
Nope.
But I’ve been around long enough to have seen designers/draftsmen get replaced by CAD/CAM.
As well as machinists reduced to tool changers.
Are there any vocational school educators reading this able to shed some more light on the subject?
I run a business with 5-axis CNC machines - does that qualify me?
Without a SKILLED machinist these robots are dead meat. Skill is hard to come by straight out of vocational school. The local College has a good program but they teach on 9 year old machines and those are...antiquated.
Your comments are equvalent to Mike Bloomberg disparaging farmers with the "throw a seed in the ground and water it - whats so hard about that?
You seem to have a similar degree of ignorance. Its not graceful.
“no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States”
You can be an atheist and still legally object to such a religious test.
“...the company’s human resources representatives quizzed them on the name of their church leaders and asked detailed questions about their faith.”
THIS is PATENTLY ILLEGAL.
Workers grilled about particulars of their faith in some sort of HR fishing expedition to try to invalidate an employee’s access to Religious Exemption should sue, sue, sue, and sue some more. I mean — this has been ruled on, already; there’s established precedent in Law. You DO NOT have to be a member of ANY recognized religious organization. Nor do your specific beliefs have to mesh with the stated “Articles of Faith” or whatever, of any religious organization you might claim association with.
Yes, it REALLY IS that straightforward. You could claim Religious Exemption because you fervently believe that mRNA technology profanes the human genome, and your religious belief absolutely bars your acceptance of any mRNA-related substance into your body, and absolutely bars your becoming complicit in said profanity by consenting to accept the injections.
THIS is what’s legal:
Please identify your sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance that is the basis for your request for an Exception as a religious accommodation.
Please briefly explain how your sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance conflicts with [your employer’s] COVID-19 vaccination requirement.
Please provide any additional information that you think may be helpful in processing your religious accommodation request.
THAT IS *IT*.
You get grilled one inch past that level... FILE SUIT!
I could look it up easily but maybe you’d like to tell me what the additional axes are beyond x - y - z. Have wondered that before. Time travel? Dark matter? lol
Fetal cells could have been obtained using ultrasounds of the pelvic regions of recently pregnant women who have died on operating tables after say auto accidents.
Cells from murdered babies need not have been used for vaccine development.
So-called ethical drug makers should avoid the use of cells from murdered babies.
“The local College has a good program but they teach on 9 year old machines and those are...antiquated.”
I think that is understandable. It is similar to medicine. The local imaging technician program does not have its own state-of-the-art Positron-Emission Tomography scanner. They know it exists but certainly don’t have one in-house. Some on-the-job training will always be required. At least the school can help you pick out the promising students.
“Thou shall not murder” and the refusal to put blood money into the temple treasury are well-known religious principles.
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