Rep. Chip Roy: Southwest Airlines Is Showing ‘No Remorse’ for Firing Employees over Vaccine

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said Tuesday that Southwest Airlines is showing “no remorse” for firing employees for refusing to take the vaccine, which has reportedly caused hundreds of flight delays since October 9.

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly went on CNBC Tuesday morning to explain the company’s vaccine mandate has contributed to “zero” flight cancelations. But Roy claimed Kelly was lying.

“BS – it’s not zero,” Roy tweeted about the correlation between vaccine protests and canceled flights.

“No remorse from the CEO of a once great ‘rebellious’ airline for saying you will force your employees to get vaccinated or be fired,” Roy continued.

“‘Oh, everyone else is doing it,'” Roy echoed the CEO’s excuse for vaccine mandates. “Who gives a crap,” Roy retorted.

Roy announced Sunday he is working on legislation to require all companies that took coronavirus stimulus money to return the funds if companies terminate employees for refusing to take the vaccine.

“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,” Roy tweeted. 

CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin tweeted Sunday that Southwest Airlines accepted $3.2 billion from taxpayers during the pandemic.

“@SouthwestAir accepted $3.2 BILLION from taxpayers. That money kept its pilots employed during the pandemic. It also made @SouthwestAir the first airline to post a profit,” Sorkin tweeted. “And now, apparently, many of those pilots don’t want to help society by getting vaccinated.”

Between Saturday and Monday, Southwest Airlines announced over 2,000 flights were canceled to due to bad weather after the Southwest pilots union asked a federal judge to block the company’s vaccine policy.

According to FlightAware, ten percent of Southwest’s fights were canceled before 11 AM on Monday. In real numbers, 360 flight have been delayed. “That’s a fraction of the more than 1,100 flights, or 30% of scheduled flights, Southwest canceled Sunday but still more than any U.S. airline,” USA Today reported.

“I know this is incredibly difficult for all of you, and our customers are not happy,” Southwest Vice President Alan Kasher said Sunday.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø