During a CNBC interview on Tuesday morning, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly blamed Democrat President Joe Biden for the airline’s decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for its employees, saying the Biden administration’s new rules for federal contractors forced the airline to issue the mandate.
“I’ve never been in favor of corporations imposing that kind of a mandate,” Kelly said. “I’m not in favor of that, never have been. But the executive order from President Biden mandates that all federal employees and then all federal contractors, which covers all major airlines, have to have a vaccine mandate in place by December 8. So we’re working through that.”
Kelly explained that Southwest is urging all its employees to get vaccinated because his goal is to prevent any of his employees from losing their jobs.
“If they can’t (get vaccinated), we’re urging them to seek an accommodation either for medical or religious reasons,” Kelly said. “The objective here, obviously, is to improve health and safety, not for people to lose their jobs.”
Kelly’s comments come the week after President Biden discussed the “mass firings” that were occurring as a result of his administration’s push for COVID-19 vaccine mandates on large businesses, saying that “the bigger story” is not “mass firings” but that the mandates are working.
“These requirements work,” Biden said. “And as a business round table and others told me when I announced the first requirement that encouraged businesses to feel they could come in and demand the same thing of their employees, more people are getting vaccinated. More lives are being saved. Let’s be clear: When you see headlines and reports of mass firings, and hundreds of people losing their jobs, look at the bigger story. I’ve spoken with Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, who’s here today. United went from 59% of their employees to 99% of their employees in less than two months after implementing the requirement. 99%.”
