Southwest Airlines, union says pilots did not walk out to protest vaccine mandates

Last edited Tue Oct 12, 2021, 12:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Southwest Airlines and the union representing its pilots say that crew members did not call out of work sick to protest vaccine mandates and cripple the carrier’s operations during the busy holiday weekend.

Southwest Airlines has canceled more than 2,000 flights since Friday afternoon when they say a mix of bad weather, air traffic control issues and military flight maneuvers in Florida caused a cascade of slowdowns that crippled its network through the weekend.

“The weekend challenges were not a result of employee demonstrations, as some have reported,” said a statement from Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King. “We have a closer to normal operation today, navigating some new weather across our system.”

The wave of cancellations came just days after Southwest Airlines announced that all employees would need to be vaccinated to comply with White House imposed mandates for federal contractors. Several employee groups have objected to the mandates, including the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, which filed for an injunction in federal court over the vaccine mandate in relation to another lawsuit from the union against the carrier.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/southwest-airlines-union-says-pilots-did-not-walk-out-to-protest-vaccine-mandates/ar-AAPnRXo

Southwest pilots' union president blames airline for cancellations

Southwest Airlines is experiencing a fifth straight day of widespread cancellations. Early numbers show 7% of Southwest flights have been canceled today. On Monday, 435 Southwest flights were canceled, bringing the total above 2,000 since Friday.

Some Southwest passengers have had to pick between paying for other transportation or staying put for days.

It's not clear what is causing the disruption but the delays and cancelations began shortly after the pilot's union tried to block Southwest's new COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

When asked by CBS News if there was any chance the disruption could have been caused by pilots calling out sick over the company's vaccine mandate, Capt. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said that was not the case and that the airline's pilot sick rate for this weekend was "right in line with what was occurring this summer."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/southwest-pilots-union-president-blames-airline-for-cancellations/ar-AAPpZeX