Is Southwest Airlines a harbinger of future resistance?

 

We've discussed the weekend meltdown in Southwest Airlines' flights, but there isn't much "official" comment apart from attempts to deny the obvious.  Two industry observers have now weighed in with "informed" commentary.  The first was published in And magazine.

The White House has pressed the airlines to adopt vaccine mandates using the leverage of federal contracts. United knuckled under first and announced a vaccine requirement. Southwest recently announced its employees had until December 8, 2021, to get vaccinated or lose their jobs.

The pilot’s union for Southwest Airlines responded to the mandate by filing suit and trying to block the action, but the pilots themselves are not waiting for court action to make clear where they stand. They have started using vacation and sick days and refusing to show up for work. Other employees have followed suit.

The entire airline has been brought to a standstill. The pushback began Friday when a grand total of 3 out of 35 employees showed up for work at the Jacksonville center. Almost every flight out of Orlando had to be canceled. Almost 50% of Southwest pilots remain unvaccinated. There is no indication that any large numbers are moving to get the vaccine. As bad as things are, they are going to get a lot worse.

Over the weekend Southwest canceled 1900 flights. As of the time this article was published it had already canceled 365 flights for Monday, and 600 more are “delayed.” Southwest Airlines is effectively shut down.

. . .

Southwest pilots are drawing a line in the sand. They, like so many other Americans, are done with the creeping tyranny, and they have grasped that in Washington no one is going to stand up for them and push back. It is time for citizens to act on their own.

This is the beginning, not the end. Other airlines are already reported to be seeing the same issues as Southwest. Those issues will expand. Rumors are swirling that United pilots may join the “sickout” any time.

Amtrak just announced the cancellation of several scheduled trains, because personnel are not showing up to work. The expectation is that such actions will spread.

. . .

This action by the Southwest pilots is not designed to attract attention. It is designed to use economic leverage to compel Southwest to change course. The pilots are not saying they want a conversation. They are saying that if Southwest does not change its policy, they will destroy the company.

There's more at the link.

The second comment (thanks to the commenters who mentioned it in responses to a previous post here) is from Juan Browne of the Blancolirio channel on YouTube.  He's a professional pilot, and posts about aircraft and air transport issues (particularly accident analyses, etc.) on a regular basis.  I highly recommend you make time to watch his 12-minute analysis of the Southwest Airlines situation.  It's an insider's perspective you won't find anywhere else right now.

That gets it said.

To put this into perspective, Jason Falter calls the whole COVID-19 vaccination push "the greatest bio-engineering catastrophe in human history" (bold print is his emphasis.

Many of us have been fighting the fraudulent “science” and manipulated stats that Public Health has been using since the beginning of the Covid-19 spread ... All perpetrated by governments controlled by corrupt Public Health organizations, which are in turn controlled by the big pharma corps, that seem to be giving the orders. Follow the money and you will see the trail of corruption. Meanwhile the news media and Big Tech (social media and search) continue to censor and smack fake fact checks on true stories that don’t fit the Gov/Public Health/Big Pharma narrative. Never before have the wheels of corruption in the machine, been so easy to see for those looking. Never before have the general public been so easy to take control of and leverage their fear and need for safety on a global scale, as a way to remove their freedom and liberty. The narrative is all. George Orwell was truly ahead of his time.

. . .

I have no doubt that the illegal vaccine mandate in the US (via OSHA) will be coming soon, and this will be a “hill to die on” moment. Do you forsake liberty, freedom, and the Constitution for a false sense of safety? Will you throw away your rights (the rights of your children) that will never be returned? Will you bend the knee to those that are forcing you to take experimental vaccines, that on the low end, have caused 15,000+ deaths and have over 100,000 adverse reactions, with many being lifelong disabilities? Or do you stand up and say, “NO. The freedom and the liberty of this nation cannot be thrown away for a virus that is over 99% survivable.” This is the hill where we now reside ... we are fast approaching the point where we either say no to this control, or become slaves to the will of those in power.

Again, more at the link.

Folks, I agree with Mr. Falter.  This is the crucial decision we all must face.  Will we submit to literal tyranny - the imposition of a vaccine with known and severe dangers, which has been proved over millions of recipients to offer minimal protection, and may even make it more likely that they will be infected - or will we take a stand and refuse to submit?  Are we citizens, or are we subjects?  Are we free, or are we slaves?

I'm not in the least anti-vaccine:  I've had many of them - but they've been vaccines that worked, and were medically proven, and were offered and accepted freely, without coercion.  None of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines are as yet officially approved;  none have proved effective in preventing further infection;  all have produced side effects, totaling more than half a million cases in the USA so far;  and all of their manufacturers have had to be protected from the legal consequences of those side effects by law.  Over and above that, I have significant religious and moral objections to them.  Putting all those factors together, I've chosen to reject current COVID-19 vaccines.

Some principles are too important to be bought and sold, or given up out of fear.  Freedom is the first of them.  Yes, there may be a price to be paid for freedom.  Our forefathers did so.  Why should we be afraid to follow their example?  It seems many Southwest Airlines pilots aren't.  Good for them!

Peter