mRNA Mandate Triggered Southwest Sickout, Other Pilots Emboldened

A couple of days ago I posted Rumor: "Vaxx" Mandate Protest Shuts Down Jacksonville ATC Tower. The truth has now come out. There is no protest. Pilots who do not want the shots will lose their sick days when fired next month, so they are using up all their sick days now.

American Greatness: A Southwest Pilot Explains What Happened over the Weekend

The tyrannical mandate, he explained, erased all of the good will pilots and other conservative employees had felt toward their company.

That newfound ill will manifested itself over the three day weekend, not with an organized strike, but with many disgruntled employees calling in sick, or not signing up for overtime to help the airline fulfill the increase in flights typical for a holiday weekend.

Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest, told employees last week that the airline had no choice but to comply with the regime’s vaccine mandate.

...The way Southwest schedules these flights these days, he said, is they rely on a significant number of pilots to pick up an extra trip for time and a half overtime pay. That time and a half pay is usually enough of a enticement to draw the needed number of pilots to fly those trips, he said.

After the vaccine mandate, however, Southwest shouldn’t have expected any pilots to sign up for those extra flights, he said.

...He stressed that there was no “organized sickout,” or even unofficial talk amongst themselves about calling in sick.

“Nothing like that is going on,” he insisted.

Bad news for anyone planning to fly in the next month or so assuming this mandate isn't reversed:

According to conservative director Robby Starbuck, a Republican candidate for US Congress in Tennessee, employees from several other airlines have been messaging him to say that they have been “emboldened” by the actions of the Southwest employees over the weekend.