Airlines not letting Texas run the table

Texas Governor Greg Abbott wouldn’t want you to mistake his push to forbid private companies and others from issuing vaccine mandates as just another attempt to court conservative voters or tee up a White House bid. His executive order seeking to ban mandates in his state plainly says it’s part of a larger plan “aimed at protecting the health and safety of Texans.”
Sure, the order hopes to curtail “federal overreach” and stymie the Biden administration’s “bullying,” but don’t attribute that to partisan hackery. After all, the goal is “achieving the least restrictive means of combatting the evolving threat to public health.”
Fortunately, two major airlines based in Texas understand that vaccinations are one of the most effective ways to protect public health in the Covid-19 era. They plan to ignore Abbott’s browbeating. Other companies large and small should follow suit, no matter the political standoffs and threats in Texas and elsewhere. There’s early evidence that vaccine and testing mandates work, and plenty of companies were making use of them well before President Joe Biden said he would ask the Labor Department to issue rules for corporate America.
Abbott warned he would fine companies and anyone else caught ignoring his order, and would stop short of jailing transgressors only because “jail is not an available penalty for violating this executive order.” That sounds like tough stuff, but Abbott’s credibility as a Covid-19 cop would be firmer if his policy mistakes hadn’t prompted Texas to import thousands of out-of-state medical workers to help battle last summer’s coronavirus surge.
“We are reviewing all guidance issued on the vaccine and are aware of the recent order by Governor Abbott,” Southwest Airlines said. “According to the president’s executive order, federal action supersedes any state mandate or law, and we would be expected to comply with the president’s order to remain compliant as a federal contractor.”
Southwest, which is headquartered in Dallas and employs 54,500 people, is a federal contractor, and that part of its business depends on remaining in the White House’s good graces. Seven other carriers, including American Airlines Inc, Delta Air Lines Inc and United Airlines Inc, are also federal contractors.

—Bloomberg