Clinton appointed Federal judge tosses attempt by Southwest Airlines pilots to stop vaccine mandate

A federal judge says Southwest Airlines can require its 9,000 pilots to be vaccinated against COVID-19, rejecting an appeal for a temporary restraining order to halt compliance.

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association wanted U. S. District Judge Barbara Lynn to stop the airline’s plan to require vaccines for all its employees, including pilots who argued that the mandate needed to be negotiated as part of its collective bargaining agreement. The judge dismissed the restraining order request Tuesday.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is asking all of its 60,000 employees to be vaccinated in order to comply with a White House mandate for federal contractors. The company had previously said that only employees who were vaccinated or granted an exemption would be allowed to continue working, but management has backed off threats to furlough or fire employees who don’t comply.

Pilots have been at the forefront of the fight against required vaccinations, pushing for options such as frequent testing or face masks.

But Lynn, chief judge of the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, said vaccinations support Southwest’s “goal of furthering ‘the safety of air transportation’ and providing ‘safe and reasonable working conditions’ for pilots, by preventing the spread of disease by adopting safe working practices, quarantining when recomm... (Read more)

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