October 11, 2021, (LifeSiteNews) – It began with a trickle –– and then a flood –– of tweets on Sunday about Southwest Airline pilots calling in sick to protest their company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and then a cascade of reports that pilots from other airlines, as well as critical employees in other segments of the transportation industry, are preparing to follow suit.  

After Southwest pilots filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against their company’s mandate, Southwest cancelled nearly 2,000 flights over the weekend, citing “bad weather.” While the airline and pilots’ union are dismissive of the reports of a pilot walkout, reports on Twitter and elsewhere have continued to emerge.   

‘The revolt begins’

“The revolt begins at Southwest Airlines,” announced Alex Berenson via his Substack, Unreported Truths.  “Pilots at Southwest appear to be sicking out in a rebellion against vaccine mandates that has crippled the airline since Friday.” 

“Why Southwest and not United?” asked Berenson.   

“Maybe because LUV is based in Dallas and has a 50-year-history of standing up to government overreach. On Friday the pilots’ union asked for a temporary halt to the mandate,” he explained. “The flight cancellations began almost immediately and are continuing today.” 

A Southwest pilot who wrote to Berenson explained why the pilots’ union is not publicly supportive of the ‘sick out’ reports:  

[T]he union cannot organize or even acknowledge the sickout, because doing so would make it an illegal job action. 

. . . 

But at the moment the pilots don’t even have to talk to each other about what they’re doing. The anger internally – not just among pilots but other Southwest workers – is enormous.   

. . .  

Telling pilots in particular to comply or face termination has backfired. 

“This pilot says he loves Southwest and finds the crisis painful but feels that if this is the only way Americans can stand up to these mandates, then let the chips fall,” concluded Berenson.  

“Way more to this Southwest thing,” tweeted Jack Posobiec, senior editor at Human Events. “Other airline crews are joining in.”  

Posobiec said in another tweet that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s office has been “getting lit up” since Saturday night by transportation industry lobbyists and “even a few CEO’s.” “They want him to talk to [Biden] about mandates, per [White House] official,” Posobiec said.