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United Airlines mandates Covid vaccine for US employees

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United Airlines updates

United Airlines will require all active US employees to be vaccinated this autumn, the latest major company and first US airline to impose the mandate to ensure workplace safety.

The Chicago-based company said on Friday that all employees must be vaccinated either by October 25, or five weeks after the US Food and Drug Administration fully approves a Covid-19 vaccine, whichever comes first. Employees who show proof of vaccination by September 20 will receive an extra day of pay.

“We know some of you will disagree with this decision to require the vaccine for all United employees,” chief executive Scott Kirby and president Brett Hart said in a memo to employees.

“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.”

The pandemic devastated the airline industry worldwide as government restrictions limited travel to curb the spread of disease. The US domestic market has rebounded since the spring, although passenger traffic remains 24 per cent lower than 2019 levels.

Delta Air Lines began requiring new employees to receive the vaccine in May. But United will apply the mandate to 67,000 active employees in the US, more than three-quarters of the company’s total payroll.

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents United flight attendants, said on Friday that while the union had promoted vaccine access and secured incentives for workers, “Covid-19 is a threat. There are proven strategies to mitigate that threat. Vaccination is necessary to end the pandemic and the health and economic harm it has caused.”

The Air Line Pilots Association, the union representing United’s pilots, said that vaccination status should be subject to negotiation. A programme instituted in May to compensate pilots receiving Covid jabs resulted in a 90 per cent vaccination rate among the group.

The union said “a small number” of pilots disagreed with the new policy, but that recent court cases validate the opinion of the union’s lawyers “that the employer mandate would be determined to be lawful”.

Pilots who plan to remain unvaccinated were told to contact supervisors to determine what to do if they have medical or religious reasons for their choice.

Kirby and Hart’s memo said that media reports on FDA approval suggest that the earlier deadline for vaccination is more likely. The company will hold staff meetings in the coming weeks to answer employee questions.

“Over the last 16 months, Scott has sent dozens of condolences letters to the family members of United employees who have died from Covid-19,” the memo said. “We’re determined to do everything we can to try to keep another United family from receiving that letter.”

The rapid increase in Covid infections due to the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant has prompted a number of large employers to require or recommend workers get vaccinated or wear masks, especially those who are returning to the office.

Others, including Wells Fargo, Apple and Amazon, have pushed back plans to bring workers back into the office more regularly, citing concerns over the flare-up in cases.

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