by Katherine Hamilton at Breitbart News
The surge in illness comes after CEO Scott Kirby instituted a vaccine mandate for all of his U.S. employees. Those who declined to get vaccinated were either fired or obtained an exemption and were subsequently placed on unpaid leave. According to the report, Kirby told employees the airline is “trimming its schedule” in order to deal with the increase in sick calls. In a memo to staff, Kirby said 3,000 workers have tested positive for coronavirus, which is “4 percent of its U.S. workforce.” The report continued:
Kirby said in a memo published on the company’s website Monday that United is “reducing our near-term schedules to make sure we have the staffing and resources to take care of customers.” A spokeswoman on Tuesday declined to say how many flights the carrier is canceling.
Several U.S. airlines combined have canceled or delayed thousands of flights since the holiday season as they grapple with a surge of omicron variant infections. CNBC reported:
JetBlue Airways was the first carrier to cut back its January schedule because of a surge in infection rates among crews, which was later followed by Alaska Airlines. American Airlines said it would do the same this week as Covid rates climbed among regional carriers.
In the memo, Kirby said,…
Continue Reading