Mercedes-Benz requires all the employees in the U.S. to vaccinate by January 4. The executives sent an email last October demanding proof of vaccination against Covid-19 by the beginning of next year. The clock is ticking.
The premium carmaker decided to implement the decision in anticipation of a separate U.S. government vaccine mandate, that would apply to businesses with at least 100 employees, Automotive News writes. Vaccination will thus become a condition of employment beginning January 4.
According to unofficial data, less than half of the company’s workers at the U.S. import processing centers have got the vaccine. Many others refuse to get the shot that might protect them from getting the infection.
The German carmaker gave the employees in the U.S.A. a 90-day notice to comply with the requirement. “We expect that the vast majority of our employees will provide proof of vaccination before the deadline”, the company representatives said in a statement.
According to Reuters, many of the employees Mercedes-Benz required to vaccinate plan a rebellion to show disagreement with the company’s new norms. People are thus risking their jobs in defiance of a federal mandate, according to a union official.
“We’re going to lose a lot of employees over this”. It is the warning that Cornell Beard, head of the local Machinists union district, gave in a statement for Reuters.
Considering that there is a 3-, 4-week gap, respectively, between the jabs from Pfizer and Moderna, the employees from Mercedes-Benz must get the first one during the first week of December at the latest.
The Mercedes-Benz requirement to vaccinate in a country with almost 47 million infections with Covid-19
The United States of America registered almost 47 million infections since the coronavirus outbreak. Over 760,000 have died so far because of the disease.
Over 192 million people are fully vaccinated in the U.S. That is 52% of the population.
