Southwest Flight Attendants Union Asks White House to Drop Face Mask Mandate
Joe Cortez March 22, 2022
Chicago, Illinois, USA - May 21, 2013: Southwest Airlines aircraft on the move with the Chicago skyline in the background.
In a letter to President Joe Biden, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, outgoing FAA administrator Steve Dickson and TSA administrator David Pekosk, the Transportation Workers Union Local 556 executive board formally asked to end the face covering requirement.
Union Cites Reduced COVID-19 Cases, Return to Normalcy for Dropping Requirements
The national face mask mandate officially went into effect on February 2, 2021, after an executive order from President Biden. The rule required passengers and operators of publicly-accessible transportation – including aircraft, trains and buses – to wear face a face covering from the moment they enter the departure terminal, to when they leave their destination terminal. Despite at least one court challenge to the rule, it has been extended twice, now set to expire in April 2022.
With their letter, the TWU Local 556 is asking the regulators to change their direction on the rules. The group cites the dropping cases of COVID-19 across the U.S. as part of their reason for the request.
“The drastic decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases warrants reevaluating the mandate’s extension through April 18, 2022,” the letter reads. Based on data received from local and national health authorities, many state and local governments, including public schools, are already rescinding their mandates.”
The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows downward trends for both new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations related to the viral infection. In addition, at least 81% of Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccination against the novel Coronavirus.
The union also notes the increase in violence flight attendants have faced since the mandate came into effect. Through March 14, 2022, airlines have referred 587 unruly passenger cases related to face masks to the FAA.
“The number of physical and verbal assaults in our workplace has increased dramatically, many of which are related to mask compliance,” the letter reads. “Through it all, our members have continued to respond professionally and responsibly with safety and security as our main priority. It is important to note that a large portion of our membership has expressed that they would like the freedom to choose whether to wear a mask at work.”
Finally, the union says ending the face mask mandate would be “In the spirit of bringing normalcy back to our frontlines” for those on the front line of the aviation industry. None of the agencies the letter was addressed to has publicly commented on the request.
Letter Latest Move to End Face Mask Mandate
The letter from the union is the latest move to bring the 13-month long federal mask mandate to an end, putting the matter of wearing coverings back in airlines’ hands. At the beginning of March 2022, former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza penned an editorial for Forbes suggesting the face mask mandate should end, while British Airways announced later in March they would start relaxing regulations before reversing course the next day.
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This mask mandate shows how out of touch Joe Biden is. We are in real trouble as this guy's dementia gets worse over the next couple of years.
Months....not years
So the Union wants it removed because a bunch of idiots get violent if told they have to wear a mask, not because numbers are down.
Mask wearing cuts the transmission rate down dramatically, the data is undeniable. I'm off to the UK next week and the case numbers there are rising dramatically since they relaxed masking rules and the new variant came out. I'm sure you'll all be complaining if crew shortages happened because people are sick. If we're lucky by the end of April numbers will be low enough to justify relaxing the mask mandate but I never understood the rush to throw caution to the wind with more than 1000 people dying every day in the states when a couple of simple prevention matters (masks, vaccines) can save lives.
A reminder that masks work not because they stop you getting infected, they work because the infected can't send out giant clouds of aerosols when they breathe.
"Mask wearing cuts the transmission rate down dramatically, the data is undeniable."
To what data do you refer? AFAIK, there have been ZERO randomized controlled trials showing a reduction in transmission attributable to mask mandates.
If you are aware of such, please do share.
Maybe just stay at home, dont come to the UK its too dangerous.
You can get out from under your desk now. The duck and cover drill ended a year ago.
If upvotes were a thing here, you would have mine.
BA didn't reverse anything, their flights to mask-free countries don't require masks anymore.
TEN! Airline CEO's ask for removal! Finally Lets go, some people wont fly if they have to wear a mask! Enough.
Right now the only thing the mask mandate does, ineffective or not, is protect the unvaccinated. Obviously my opinion, but it seems that the fully vaccinated have good protection, so why worry about protecting the unvaccinated? Let them wear a mask if they need to. Let the rest of us breathe freely.
If making the self-satisfied feel like removing the mask mandate will kill the unrighteous unvaccinated is what it takes to end it, I'm on board.
right. That's why the most afraid are vaccinated. there is no spread. It's all about activation. How are those masks working in South Korea? Hong Kong?
I feel alot safer being unvaccinated and cloth masks do no good. Did you see the pfizer data that a judge forced them to release? All data was hidden from us.