One of the major airlines in the United States has cancelled more than 2,000 flights since Saturday. The mass cancellations have disrupted the travel planes of thousands of customers.
Despite online speculation, Southwest Airlines (SWA) blamed bad weather, air traffic control issues and staff shortages for destabilizing daily operations. Still, the story took on a life of its own on Twitter over the weekend.
Several well-known conservatives mistakenly claimed that a mass walkout by SWA employees over the company's COVID-19 vaccine mandate brought the airline to a screening halt. (RELATED: Hospital System Denying Organ Transplants for Almost All Unvaccinated)
SWA's vaccine policy has religious and medical exemptions. As it stands, employees who don't qualify for exempt status have until Nov. 24 to get their shots.
Vaccine skeptics often express doubt over scientific assessments demonstrating the effectiveness of COVID vaccines. Others express concerns over purported side effects. Despite FDA-approval, their opposition to vaccines and vaccine mandates in particular remains as intense as ever.
With both sides dug in, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) President Captain Casey Murray dismissed “false claims” that the operational disruption had anything to do with SWA's mandatory vaccine mandate. (RELATED: Fauci: ‘Too Soon to Tell' if Americans Can Celebrate Christmas With Family)
However, Captain Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), dismissed the “false claims” of a vaccine mandate-related walkout as the reason for the disruptions in a statement on Sunday.
Per Newsweek:
“I can say with certainty that there are no work slowdowns or sickouts either related to the recent mandatory vaccine mandate or otherwise. Under the RLA, our Union is forbidden from taking job action to resolve labor disputes under these circumstances. SWAPA has not authorized, and will not condone, any job action,” Murray said.
“SWA has claimed that the immediate causes of this weekend's meltdown were staffing at Jacksonville Center and weather in the southeast U.S., but what was a minor temporary event for other carriers devastated Southwest Airlines because our operation has become brittle and subject to massive failures under the slightest pressure.
“Our operation and our frontline employees have endured continuous and unending disruptions since the first time our airline made headlines in early June due to widespread IT failures. Our Pilots are tired and frustrated because our operation is running on empty due to a lack of support from the Company.”
…
The claims were also dismissed by Southwest Airlines in a statement to Newsweek.
Another press release from SWAPA fueled speculation that the union was anti-vaccine. Though the association criticized the airline for implementing a vaccine mandate, the union clarified that “SWAPA is not anti-vaccination, but we do believe that, under all circumstances, it is our role to represent the health and safety of our Pilots and bring their concerns to the Company.”
SWAPA hopes to have meaningful conversations with management about the possibility of vaccine exemptions for individuals with natural immunity. The union says it will file a Temporary Restraining Order to keep the company from enforcing the mandate.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: New Therapeutic Represents Quantum Leap in COVID Fight >>
