Unsupported ‘sickout’ claims take flight amid Southwest woes

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DALLAS – When Southwest Airlines canceled much than 2,000 flights implicit the weekend, citing atrocious upwind and aerial postulation power issues, unsupported claims blaming vaccine mandates began taking off.

Conservative politicians and pundits, including Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, alleged the formation disruptions resulted from pilots and aerial postulation controllers walking disconnected their jobs oregon calling successful sick to protestation national vaccination requirements.

The airline, its pilots’ national and the Federal Aviation Administration denied that.

“The play challenges were not a effect of Southwest worker demonstrations,” Southwest spokesperson Chris Mainz said Monday.

Still, Twitter posts claiming hose employees were “standing up to aesculapian tyranny” and participating successful a “mass sickout” amassed thousands of shares. Vague and anonymous messages connected societal media speculated that Southwest was hiding the existent crushed for its disruptions. And anti-vaccine rallying cries specified arsenic #DoNotComply, #NoVaccineMandate and #HoldTheLine were among the 10 astir fashionable hashtags tweeted successful transportation to Southwest implicit the weekend, according to a study from media quality steadfast Zignal Labs.

Even arsenic flights appeared to beryllium moving person to mean connected Tuesday, the Texas-based hose remained astatine the halfway of the latest beforehand successful the vaccine mandate civilization war, its challenges exploited by opponents of vaccine requirements.

Neither the institution nor its pilots' national has provided grounds to backmost up their explanations for wherefore astir 2,400 flights were canceled from Saturday done Monday. Southwest has lone said that atrocious upwind and aerial postulation power issues successful Florida connected Friday triggered cascading failures successful which planes and pilots were trapped retired of presumption for their adjacent flight.

The situation peaked connected Sunday, erstwhile the hose canceled much than 1,100 flights, oregon 30% of its schedule. By Tuesday evening, it had canceled less than 100 flights, oregon 2% of its schedule, though much than 1,000 flights were delayed, according to tracking work FlightAware.

“When you get behind, it conscionable takes respective days to drawback up,” CEO Gary Kelly said Tuesday connected CNBC. “We were importantly acceptable down connected Friday.”

Southwest struggled each summertime with delays and cancellations. A elder enforcement admitted to employees Sunday that the hose is inactive understaffed and mightiness request to trim flights successful November and December.

Despite repeated requests, the institution and the national person declined to accidental however galore employees missed enactment during the crisis. They person said that absentee rates were akin to those implicit a emblematic summertime weekend, but they person not enactment retired numbers to enactment that argument. It is besides unclear however galore Southwest pilots are unvaccinated.

“We don’t know, and the institution doesn’t know,” said Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association.

Meanwhile, speculation from salient Conservative politicians and pundits has flooded into the void. Many shared the unsubstantiated theory, but fewer provided details, facts oregon examples of employees walking disconnected the occupation to protestation the vaccine.

“Joe Biden’s amerciable vaccine mandate astatine work!” Cruz tweeted Sunday. “Suddenly, we’re abbreviated connected pilots & aerial postulation controllers. #ThanksJoe.”

The Republican legislator wrote successful different tweet Monday that helium met past week with leaders of aviator unions who “expressed heavy interest implicit the vaccine mandates.” A spokeswoman for Southwest pilots said nary 1 astatine the national had talked to Cruz. A spokesperson for Cruz did not respond to emailed questions from The Associated Press astir whether the Republican legislator had immoderate firsthand cognition of pilots oregon aerial postulation controllers skipping work.

Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin besides posted the rumors connected societal media, without offering proof.

Vague, familiar-looking “friend of a friend” stories are a unsafe signifier of misinformation due to the fact that they “feel similar insider accusation being shared by individuals straight progressive successful the action,” according to Rachel Moran, a misinformation student astatine the University of Washington.

Similar unsupported claims circulated online successful August, erstwhile societal media users falsely claimed that formation delays and cancellations retired of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport were the effect of vaccine mandates. In September, false net rumors swirled that 40% of employees astatine defence contractor General Dynamics had declined the vaccine and threatened to quit.

Some Twitter users connected Southwest's formation problems to quality that connected Friday the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association had asked a national justice successful Dallas to artifact the airline’s vaccine mandate. The national said nether national labour law, Southwest indispensable bargain with the national earlier making changes affecting moving conditions. The justice has not ruled yet.

Asked connected Tuesday to respond to claims that vaccine mandates person reduced the workforce and contributed to supply-chain disruptions, White House property caput Jen Psaki took a jab astatine Cruz — sarcastically labeling him a “world-renowned business, question and wellness expert” — earlier defending Biden’s policy.

“I cognize determination was a small hubbub implicit the people of the past fewer days astir Southwest Airlines,” Psaki said. “We present cognize that immoderate of those claims were perfectly mendacious and really the issues were wholly unrelated to vaccine mandates.”

Biden’s order, which is inactive being finalized, would necessitate employers with 100 oregon much workers to get vaccinated oregon tested play for COVID-19. Airlines, however, are authorities contractors due to the fact that they execute enactment specified arsenic exigency flights for the Defense Department that carried Afghanistan refugees to the U.S. successful August. That makes airlines taxable to a tougher modular nether the Biden order: mandatory vaccinations with nary opt-out for getting tested.

Following the pb of different airlines, Southwest told employees past week that it would necessitate them to beryllium vaccinated by Dec. 8.

While immoderate unit astatine airlines and different ample companies person spoken retired against vaccine requirements, comments connected societal media person created an exaggerated consciousness of the dissent, according to Moran, the misinformation student astatine the University of Washington.

“In reality, it’s rather a tiny fig of radical who are protesting employment-based mandates for the vaccine,” Moran said. “People are much susceptible to misinformation successful times of crisis, and these labour shortages and supply-chain delays either make a existent consciousness of situation oregon are manipulated by misinformation spreaders to marque it look similar we are heading towards crisis.”

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Swenson reported from New York. Amanda Seitz successful Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report. David Koenig tin beryllium reached astatine www.twitter.airlinewriter

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