Tyson Foods announced this week that they’re requiring that all 120,000 of their employees get vaccinated, but some are not impressed. United Food and Commercial Workers International President Marc Perrone says, “While we support and encourage workers getting vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus…it is concerning that Tyson is implementing this mandate before the FDA has fully approved the vaccine.”
The union representing 24,000 Tyson employees urged all frontline businesses to negotiate vaccine policies directly with their frontline workers and provide paid vaccine leave so that workers can get vaccinated without worrying about losing a paycheck.
Workers that are vaccinated will receive a $200 bonus, along with four hours of pay for getting vaccinated outside of work or through an external provider. Roughly 56,000 workers at the company have already been vaccinated, but the remaining office workers have a deadline of October 1st, while plant employees have until November 1st, 2021.
