Cargo Airline Association Asks for Delay on Employee Vaccination Requirement
Major air cargo airlines, including UPS and FedEx Express, are asking the Office of Management and Budget to delay the Dec. 8 deadline for employee vaccination, in a letter sent last week, first reported by Politico. They asked for the deadline to be extended into the first half of 2022.
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The companies, which say they support the goals of the executive order, and agree that the best way to stop the spread of COVID-19 is to vaccinate widely, do not have a testing alternative, unlike some large companies, because they are federal contractors.
"As a practical matter, we are extremely concerned that it will be virtually impossible to have 100% of our respective work forces vaccinated by December 8," the association wrote, especially given that they are hiring hundreds of thousands of temporary workers for the holiday shipping rush. "This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that we are already experiencing a worker shortage, both in the air and on the ground, and any loss of employees who refuse to be vaccinated will adversely impact needed operations."