The rough ride for airlines persists, months after United Airlines became the first U.S.-based airline to require worker vaccination with several other airlines following suit. As with other industries, staffing issues contribute to the friction, but the media sure does highlight labor issues that lead to flight cancellations (with thousands of angry passengers) much more than, say, reduced restaurant hours that impact fewer customers.
Unions continue to contribute to the staffing issues while drawing lines in the sand on vaccines and masking. At Southwest Airlines, the flight attendants’ union (Transport Workers Union Local 556) takes issue with enforcing passenger mask requirements while the pilots (represented by the Southwest Airline Pilots Association) skirt those same rules while on the clock.
Another point of contention: isolation periods. The Association of Flight Attendants received a cease-and-desist letter from Delta Air Lines after the union’s president “place[d] Delta in a highly negative light by suggesting Delta was asking employees to work while they were ill.” This dust-up followed the CDC’s updated recommendations that shorten isolation times for two groups: (1) Covid-positive people whose symptoms cease or are asymptomatic; (2) People who come into contact with a Covid-positive person.
