United Airlines Inc, a major American airline, has announced on Tuesday that a total of 593 employees are at the risk of facing termination after failing to comply with the company’s vaccine mandate which was put in place on August 6 and required all of its 67,000 U.S.-based employees to be vaccinated.
While more than 96% of the Chicago-based carrier’s workforce complied with the vaccine requirement, some failed to provide proof of vaccine on time. The deadline to upload proof of immunisation, or the first shot if they were receiving a two-dose vaccine, was late Monday, as mentioned by the Airline in August.
“This is a historic achievement for our airline and our employees as well as for the customers and communities we serve,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby and president Brett Hart said in a memo, justifying the Airline’s demand for inoculation of all its employees,
“Our rationale for requiring the vaccine for all United’s U.S.-based employees was simple — to keep our people safe — and the truth is this: everyone is safer when everyone is vaccinated, and vaccine requirements work.”
“And we know for some, that decision was a reluctant one. But there’s no doubt in our minds that some of you will have avoided a future hospital stay — or even death — because you got vaccinated,” they further asserted in the memo, addressing their U.S employees who decided to get immunised against COVID-19.
A United spokesperson has revealed that the company is amenable to work with unvaccinated employees during their termination process if they “change their mind” about getting inoculated before their formal termination meeting. However, the carrier isn’t “expecting operational problems because of terminations,” the spokesperson added.
