{"id":1182773,"date":"2022-01-03T09:34:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T14:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1182773"},"modified":"2022-01-03T09:34:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T14:34:52","slug":"exclusive-united-airlines-outsources-work-to-potentially-unvaccinated-london-flight-attendants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-united-airlines-outsources-work-to-potentially-unvaccinated-london-flight-attendants\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive\u2014 United Airlines Outsources Work to Potentially Unvaccinated London Flight Attendants"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-united-airlines-outsources-work-to-potentially-unvaccinated-london-flight-attendants%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1182773&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\"><span>United Airlines is allegedly allowing potentially unvaccinated London-based flight attendants to work alongside vaccinated American staff as it grapples with staffing shortages, cofounder of <a href=\"https:\/\/ae4hf.org\/\">Airline Employees 4 Health Freedom<\/a> Captain Sherry Walker exclusively told Breitbart News on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has placed roughly 2,000 unvaccinated U.S.-based&nbsp;employees who obtained religious and medical accommodations on unpaid leave in the name of \u201csafety.\u201d That number includes approximately 900 flight attendants, according to Walker, who said her organization is currently undergoing an audit to confirm the exact numbers of United employees placed on unpaid leave and their positions.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Unlike other large airlines, Kirby\u2019s vaccine mandate is devoid of a testing&nbsp;option. It&nbsp;stripped employees on unpaid leave of their benefits and has them reportedly struggling to find work due to a non-compete clause.<\/p>\n<p><span>The mandate is the subject of an ongoing class-action lawsuit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/12\/16\/exclusive-airline-employees-4-health-freedom-sen-ted-cruz-spot-on-slamming-united-airlines-ceos-shameful-treatment-of-employees\/\">brought<\/a> by six United Airlines employees, alleging that it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the&nbsp;Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Breitbart News was able to obtain several schedule logs showing London-based flight attendants scheduled to fly with Newark-based crew in late December and early January. London-based United Airlines employees are not subject to Kirby\u2019s vaccine mandate, meaning some could potentially be unvaccinated against coronavirus. Walker told Breitbart News&nbsp;that, to her knowledge, United Airlines never&nbsp;previously \u201cmixed vaccinated, unvaccinated or London with the U.S. vaccinated employees,\u201d but she noted that Kirby apparently does not have&nbsp;the same&nbsp;authority to make rules for employees&nbsp;under the jurisdiction of foreign governments.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_19335938\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/dec15-21-United-Airlines-CEO-Scott-Kirby-getty.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19335938\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/dec15-21-United-Airlines-CEO-Scott-Kirby-getty.jpg\" alt=\"WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 15: United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby and Delta Air Lines Executive Vice President John Laughter testify before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. The air transportation executives testified about the current state of the U.S. airline industry during the oversight hearing. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby and Delta Air Lines Executive Vice President John Laughter testify before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 15, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>\u201cNow they\u2019re just so shorthanded, they can\u2019t keep those people isolated together, so they are just mixing them up with crew back and forth across the pond,\u201d Walker said.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>With the new variant&nbsp;omicron sending health officials into a tizzy, airlines have canceled thousands of flights and grounded hundreds of planes due to an ongoing pilot shortage and staffing issues. United Airlines is no different, canceling hundreds of flights before and after Christmas.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe nationwide spike in omicron cases has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation. As a result, we\u2019ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport,\u201d United <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/transportation\/aviation\/587386-1000-more-us-flights-canceled-monday-amid-omicron-disruptions?rl=1\">told<\/a> <em>the<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Hill<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But instead of calling back unvaccinated American staff currently on unpaid leave, Kirby reportedly decided to outsource the work to foreign employees who might also be unvaccinated.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>\u201cIt is becoming obvious that CEO Kirby is willing to inconvenience you in an effort to coerce us to surrender our bodies or our faith for his hollow marketing ploy, and it has backfired. Over the past week, our coworkers are falling ill by the hundreds. United predicted this, sending multiple memos begging for overtime flight crews,\u201d Walker said in a previous op-ed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/12\/24\/sherry-walker-grounded-airline-employees-blame-vaccine-mandate-holiday-travel-woes-keeping-families-apart\/\">published<\/a> to Breitbart News, responding to reports of canceled holiday flights. \u201cYet while United pleads for more employees to step up to help, the 2,000 of us are left sitting idle, willing and eager to serve you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Breitbart News reached out to United Airlines for confirmation that potentially unvaccinated London-based crew&nbsp;have&nbsp;been flying with&nbsp;America-based&nbsp;crew&nbsp;who are&nbsp;subject to mandatory vaccination. The company did not respond by the time of publication.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>However, in mid-December, Kirby testified with several other airline CEOs before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science &amp; Transportation. All of the CEOs confirmed that they are undergoing staffing shortages,&nbsp;including an&nbsp;ongoing pilot shortage, which has resulted in hundreds of grounded planes. Both Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) grilled Kirby during questioning, asking him why he has placed pilots and flight attendants on unpaid leave and refused to offer a testing option to unvaccinated employees in light of the shortage.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe believe [the mandate] saved lives. I think that\u2019s my number one obligation is safety, particularly running an airline\u2026\u201d Kirby insisted, later telling Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) that adding a testing option would be a \u201ccompromise\u201d on safety.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19282626\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/dulles-airport-canceled-flights-dec-27-2021-getty.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19282626\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/dulles-airport-canceled-flights-dec-27-2021-getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A woman checks in for her flight at a United Airlines kiosk at the Dulles International Airport on December 27, 2021, in Dulles, Virginia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>But despite Kirby\u2019s repeated claim that his mandate is all about safety, United Airlines has begun rolling back other coronavirus safety measures. Breitbart News obtained a Dec. 28 memo from United Airlines\u2019 pilot union, United Master Executive Council, saying the airline \u201cwill no longer be conducting contact tracing for pilots who test positive for COVID-19\u201d against the union\u2019s \u201cstrong objection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith this change in policy, pilots who test positive should ask the FO COVID Care Team for assistance informing any crew member close contacts if you develop symptoms and\/or test positive within 48 hours after a trip,\u201d the memo states.<\/p>\n<p>The union sent the notice following an update to the airline\u2019s safety procedures making return-to-work requirements \u201cless stringent,\u201d according to the union memo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeginning December 27, pilots are only required to report \u2026 a positive COVID-19 test result\/medical diagnosis from your physician [or] a household member\u2019s positive test result IF the pilot also has symptoms of COVID-19,\u201d according to the memo. \u201cAlso the return-to-work requirements after receiving a negative rest result (taken for symptoms) will no longer require a 10-day wait or clearance from Corporate Medical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A United employee, who will remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, reached out to Walker confirming the policy updates and saying they were told to come to work even though they had direct contact with their spouse who was sick with coronavirus.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u201cBasically, because you\u2019re vaccinated \u2014 even though your [spouse] at the end of the sofa is coughing up a lung with COVID \u2014 [the airline does not] really care as long as you\u2019re not exhibiting symptoms because we\u2019ve got airplanes sitting everywhere,\u201d Walker said.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Breitbart News also asked United to confirm its new safety policies for pilots and to give an explanation as to how the change fits the company\u2019s definition of safety. The airline did not respond to that line of questioning either.<\/p>\n<p>Walker said flight attendants on unpaid leave, while upset that potentially unvaccinated London-based crew are allowed to work while they sit at home, are \u201cresolved\u201d to \u201csee out the court case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, all of a sudden as this&nbsp;omicron&nbsp;spreads and the talk&nbsp;of&nbsp;boosters is out there \u2026 there\u2019s a lot of folks knocking on our door \u2026\u201d Walker said. \u201cWe\u2019re warriors. So we\u2019re gonna just hang in here, and I think our people are a little bit more emboldened right now. They\u2019re going to fight. They don\u2019t want any settlements right now. They want to see how the court case plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a two-sentence order in mid-December,&nbsp;a liberal panel of&nbsp;the conservative-leaning U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit&nbsp;rejected an emergency request by&nbsp;six employees to <a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/09\/22\/employees-sue-united-airlines-over-discriminatory-vaccine-mandate-potentially-1000s-face-firing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">halt<\/a> United Airlines from enforcing the company\u2019s coronavirus vaccine mandate. However, the court also granted a motion to expedite an appeal in the case, which will be heard&nbsp;Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Judge James Ho wrote&nbsp;in&nbsp;dissent that he agrees \u201cwith the district court that Plaintiffs\u2019 claims \u2018appear compelling and convincing at this stage.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe person who acquiesces to United\u2019s mandate despite his faith doesn\u2019t lose any pay. But he will have to wrestle with self-doubt\u2014questioning whether he has lived up to the calling of his faith,\u201d Ho wrote. \u201cLikewise, the person who refuses must also wrestle with self-doubt\u2014questioning whether his faith has hurt his family, and whether living up to his commitments was worth sacrificing the interests of his loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The case is&nbsp;<em>Sambrano v. United Airlines<\/em>, No. 21-11159 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.<\/p>\n<p><em>Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/katherineeeeee2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United Airlines is allegedly allowing potentially unvaccinated London-based flight attendants to work alongside vaccinated American staff as it grapples with staffing shortages, cofounder of Airline Employees 4 Health Freedom Captain &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1182773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}