Thousands of air travelers were left stranded over the weekend after a wave of flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines, one of the nation’s largest carriers that has attracted fliers due to its low fares.
On Sunday, the airline was forced to call off over 1,000 flights which it blamed on bad weather and air traffic control issues although many have suggested that there is a far different explanation than what they are being told, specifically that a “sick out” to protest Southwest’s vaccine mandate was behind the service interruptions.
While the reason for the cancellations remains unclear, it did draw attention to the fact that like other airlines, Southwest received millions in government bailout money as a result of the COVID pandemic and Rep. Chip Roy is calling for the welfare queens of the sky to pay it all back for firing employees who decline to be jabbed.
The Texas Republican took to Twitter where he body-slammed Southwest, telling the airline to “Eat it” and announcing that he was crafting legislation to require all businesses to pay back their bailout money if they terminate employees as a result of President Joe Biden’s end-around the Constitution by using the “public-private partnership” to do the administration’s dirty work.
This makes me happier than I can possibly articulate. Eat it, @SouthwestAir. https://t.co/kXdGIuXJoi
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) October 11, 2021
Roy made it clear that he stands with Southwest Airlines employees against the vaccine mandates and urged fellow Republicans in both the House and Senate to not support the airline the next time that they “come begging for a bailout,” which is inevitable since the precedent has already been established.
And I am 100% behind them. Tell @SouthwestAir to shove their “we LUV employees” nonsense. Shut them down. And when they come begging for a bailout – not one @HouseGOP or @SenateGOP should support them. #HealthcareFreedom https://t.co/xXli7pLBpT
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) October 11, 2021
Actually – let’s make @SouthwestAir & others trampling the rights of their employees to healthcare privacy to pay back their previous bailout. https://t.co/45W1Yni6mY
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) October 11, 2021
He also retweeted a defense of Southwest’s leeching off of American taxpayers by Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times as an opportunity to announce the legislation to claw back the funds from companies that enforce Biden’s edict on mandating vaccines or face unemployment.
I am working on legislation to require all companies that took bailouts to have to pay them back – in full – if they fire any employee for lack of vax per @JoeBiden’s unconstitutional order. https://t.co/62c02fGN3X
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) October 11, 2021
Southwest posted the following travel advisory to Twitter on Saturday.
ATC issues and disruptive weather have resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend while we work to recover our operation. We appreciate your patience as we accommodate affected Customers, and Customer Service wait times are longer than usual. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/o1scQJ5lLb
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 9, 2021
Additionally, in a note to staff that was reported by CNBC, Alan Kasher who is the airline’s executive vice president of daily flight operations wrote, “Although we were staffed for the weekend, we could not anticipate the significant disruption that was created from unexpected ATC issues and bad weather across our Florida stations,”
The finger-pointing at Mother Nature drew immediate skepticism considering that the weather in the Sunshine State was beautiful over the weekend and that other airlines aren’t experiencing similar issues.
“Bad weather” that only affects one airline 🤡 https://t.co/H0yNxfGIq5
— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) October 11, 2021
Adding to the intrigue, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, the union that represents the airline’s pilots asked a federal court to block the vaccine mandates in a move that was reported by Bloomberg News.
According to the filing, “The new vaccine mandate unlawfully imposes new conditions of employment and the new policy threatens termination of any pilot not fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021,” the legal filing said. “Southwest Airlines’ additional new and unilateral modification of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement is in clear violation of the RLA.”
The Biden administration and the media will have a major problem on their hands if it is revealed that the trouble at Southwest is indeed a protest against the mandates and the idea catches on as a sign of resistance against what is an unprecedented attack on the rights of Americans.
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Chris Donaldson is an ordinary American who is concerned about rampant corruption as well as the ongoing attacks on our way of life by those who have contempt for our hard-earned freedoms. A Navy veteran, he has been a frequent contributor to conservative websites and resides in Florida.
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