A group called “US Freedom Flyers” sprung up in recent weeks to help employees in the transportation industry oppose the federal laws surrounding vaccinations.
According to its website, US Freedom Flyers is a group of “transportation industry employees who have come together to fight federal and state mandates which aim to strip Citizens of their right to medical freedom.”
Nearly all of the major airlines— United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines—have confirmed in recent weeks that they will bend to the Biden regime’s will regarding vaccine mandates.
Biden announced a vaccine mandate for private employers with over 100 employees in September, but the executive order has yet to be formally written.
“The rule has never been written. It might not be written. Once it’s written, it has to go through lawyers and then once it’s established, there are six months until companies have to do anything,” said Fox News’ Jesse Waters Monday, adding that Southwest and others requiring the experimental vaccine did so based on something still in the abstract: “[T]he companies fell in line over a press release, over a threat. Now you’re seeing the results of that threat,” he said.
Southwest Airlines said employees must be fully vaccinated by December 8 unless they receive an exemption in order “to continue employment with the airline.”
The airline was forced to cancel more than 2,000 flights Friday through Sunday, and hundreds more on Monday after employees called in sick, or refused to sign up for overtime hours over the holiday weekend, according to one Southwest Airlines.
The airline blamed its weekend of “operational challenges” on “air traffic control issues” and inclement weather, although no other airlines seemed to be affected by the weather.
“We experienced weather challenges in our Florida airports at the beginning of the weekend, challenges that were compounded by unexpected air traffic control issues in the same region, triggering delays and prompting significant cancellations for us beginning Friday evening,” a Southwest Airlines spokesperson said in a statement. “We’ve continued diligent work throughout the weekend to reset our operation with a focus on getting aircraft and crews repositioned to take care of our customers.”
A Southwest pilot told American Greatness on Monday that staff shortages were spurred by employees calling in sick, or refusing to clock in overtime hours to help the airline out during the busy holiday weekend. He said that the carrier’s embrace of the draconian vaccine mandates had evaporated any goodwill Southwest employees had toward their employer.
The US Freedom Flyers said in a statement on Sunday that it has been made aware of a “sickout” involving “multiple airlines” that has been organized for later this week. In a post on GAB, the US Freedom Flyers condemned the action as hurtful to passengers and counterproductive to its goals.
Southwest’s pilots’ union said the cancellations over the weekend were not caused by a planned labor demonstration.
“We can say with confidence that our pilots are not participating in any official or unofficial job actions,” it said in a press release. “Our pilots will continue to overcome SWA management’s poor planning, as well as any external operational challenges.”
A pilot who contacted independent journalist Alex Berenson, however, explained that the union had no choice but to deny that a worker strike was occurring.
“Essentially, the union cannot organize or even acknowledge the sickout, because doing so would make it an illegal job action,” Berenson explained on Substack.
But at the moment the pilots don’t even have to talk to each other about what they’re doing. The anger internally – not just among pilots but other Southwest workers – is enormous. The tough prior negotiations notwithstanding, Southwest has a history of decent labor relations, and workers believe the company should stand up for them against the mandate. Telling pilots in particular to comply or face termination has backfired.
—
Meanwhile, Southwest has more flexibility than it has acknowledged. Federal contracts represent about 3 percent of its revenue, but even the Biden administration CANNOT alter existing contracts (please note, I have not checked this, though it seems reasonable); Southwest is only at risk of losing future contracts.
This pilot believes that the fact that the airlines received $25 billion in no-strings-attached cash for “payroll support” last year (as well another $25 billion in loans) has made them particularly reluctant to stand up to the Biden administration. Southwest’s CEO, Gary Kelly, may be in an especially tough spot since he is the head of the airline lobbying group.
—
Finally: This pilot says he loves Southwest and finds the crisis painful but feels that if this is the only way Americans can stand up to these mandates, then let the chips fall.
NewsNation Now reporter Leland Vittert reported on Saturday that airline sources said employees in Jacksonville, Florida were protesting the company’s vaccine mandate with a mass “sickout.”
Airline sources: mass “sickout” @FAANews center in Jacksonville – caused ripple effect and 1000+ flight cancellations mostly effecting @SouthwestAir – report “sickout” protesting #VaccineMandate
— Leland Vittert (@LelandVittert) October 10, 2021
Monday morning, according to trading and investment outlet “Market Rebellion,” Kelly admitted that the airline is experiencing a shortage of workers, “especially flight crews.”
BREAKING: Southwest admits it https://t.co/S1Fq5bLmOa
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) October 11, 2021
The Southwest pilots association filed a motion for a restraining order against the airline on October 8.
“Several times since August 30, 2021, Southwest Airlines has taken new unilateral actions which violate the status quo between the parties in further violation of the Railway Labor Act,” the motion states. “Most recently, on October 4, 2021, Southwest Airlines unilaterally rolled out a new and nonnegotiated COVID vaccine mandate for all employees, including SWAPA pilots. The new vaccine mandate unlawfully imposes new conditions of employment and the new policy threatens termination of any pilot not fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021.”
In a powerful videotaped message posted onto TikTok, an American airline pilot with 18 years of experience explained why he was resisting the tyrannical vaccine push.
“If we give in to these mandates, and we do not stand up for our freedom of choice, we dishonor every armed service member over the last 257 years, a disservice to the people who fought and bled for the very freedoms we enjoy,” the pilot, who posted the video on his TikTok account @cellsaucenutrition.
“Whether you believe in vaccination or not, I’m standing up for your freedom of choice.”
American Pilot has this powerful message ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/GG5myOXrRi
— Monica Almaguer (@Dontbsquirl) October 8, 2021
At the end of the video, the pilot mentioned the US Freedom Flyers, “a group of transportation industry employees who have come together to fight federal and state mandates which aim to strip Citizens of their right to medical freedom.”
The group states that it represents employees in “the air, rail, and trucking industries who are spearheading efforts to protect medical health freedom.”
Our goal is to push back against the US government’s threats of vaccine mandates for private businesses. We know this effort is not simply a matter of employees versus companies, but citizens opposing illegal and tyrannical mandates by the US government.
The Biden Administration vaccine mandate announcement on September 9, 2021 made it abundantly clear that its focus is not on maintaining our rights and freedoms as outlined in our Constitution, but on its totalitarian rule. Our freedoms and lives have been upended because of a virus with a 99.8% recovery rate. We will not allow this fear-mongering campaign to continue on the American people.
“This is not about being for or against the Covid-19 vaccine. This is about the government mandating a medical intervention without the fully informed consent of the individual.”
Joshua Yoder, a pilot with American Airlines who founded US Freedom Flyers, told conservative podcaster Stew Peters that in just three days the had over 50,000 members.
Yoder said US Freedom Flyers is seeing wide support from both vaccinated and unvaccinated employees.
“Some of us disagree on the vaccine, but what we all agree on is freedom, and we’re not going to take this. We’re not going to stand down,” Yoder said. “We believe in informed consent, and I don’t consent to this. Many of my fellow employees don’t consent to this, and we’re not going to take it.”
We’re going to turn this into a national movement with millions of passengers, and we’re going to push back, and we’re going to win,” Yoder said.
He stressed that his group was not advocating any type of “work action” in the coming days. “This is critical, we’re a union, and we’re not advocating a work action. We’re a grassroots freedom support movement,” Yoder said. “We’re just fighting for our rights.”
In a statement on GAB, the US Freedom Flyers disavowed an upcoming “sickout” that is being planned for this week involving “multiple airlines,” saying such actions do a disservice to its goals.
We at US Freedom Flyers stand for medical freedom and informed consent, specifically when it comes to federal mandates coercing employees into getting a Covid-19 vaccine in order to keep one’s job. It is our position that this battle will be won in the court of public opinion and, if needed, a court of law.
This being said, we have been made aware there is an upcoming sickout planned for this week at multiple airlines. US Freedom Flyers unequivocally disavows and condemns any and all actions such as this. This type of activity hurts our passengers, hurts the companies we all work for, and does a great disservice to our stated goals.
The hard work we have all accomplished in a very short amount of time can completely be erased by actions such as these.
Yoder told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday that his group was formed to protect Americans from being coerced into doing something they are against.
He predicted that the mandate would be disastrous for the transportation sector of the U.S. economy.
“If there’s a disruption in one part of the system, it has a catastrophic effect on the rest of the system,” Yoder said. “It’s going to affect commerce, it’s going to affect trade, and ultimately, it’s going to affect the economy,” he explained.
“If you have flights reduced by 30 percent because 30 percent of pilots are fired because they won’t take the vaccine, this is going to affect how your goods get here from overseas, how they’re distributed to stores,” he said.
Yoder noted that the same thing was happening in the trucking and shipping industries.
“Those Amazon boxes that typically show up in three days, you might be looking at three weeks,” he said.
Yoder reiterated that he would “never promote a sickout or work action” because they’re illegal.
“The U.S. Freedom Flyers—the organization I am am with—we would never promote such a thing,” he said. “With that being said, we also cannot control the actions of individuals, and I think that you will see massive disruptions in the supply chain and in your travel if we stand up and say no. If they fire 30 percent of the workforce, aircraft are going to stop moving, and its going to affect you. it’s going to affect your air travel, and it’s going to affect the economy.”
Yoder told Carlson that Joe Biden was to blame for the looming disaster.
“Anyone with a critical mind can point towards the federal government and the companies that enforcing the illegal mandates from the federal government, and see that’s it’s the federal government’s fault,” he said.