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Dec. 24, 2021 - Epoch Times
20:20
United Airlines Starts Terminating 593 Workers for Refusing to Comply with Mandate | Facts Matter
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Good evening and boy do we have an episode in store for you.
To start with, over in North Carolina, a hospital system there has just fired almost 200 of their employees because they refused to comply with the vaccine mandate.
Which, by the way, is a similar situation that we're seeing play out across the entire country.
In states like New York, Indiana, California, and so on.
However, some workers, they have begun to collectively fight back.
For instance, over in Minnesota, several hundred workers have collectively come together and filed this lawsuit here against their employers.
They're alleging that these companies, they are putting undue pressure on their workers so that the healthcare facilities, meaning the employers themselves, they can say that they have higher vaccination numbers and therefore get more money from federal subsidies.
Meanwhile, freshman students over at the University of Bath, which is over in England, they are being forced to wear wristbands that were handed out by school authorities in order to signal whether they are vaccinated or not.
Different color wristbands for different groups.
And lastly, if you were planning to go over to China next year in order to watch the Chinese Communist Party's Winter Olympics, well, I would recommend that you hold off on buying your airplane tickets.
That's because just yesterday, the International Olympic Committee, they announced that only Chinese citizens will be allowed to attend the Games.
Let's go through it all together.
This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
And now let's begin today's discussion over in North Carolina, where a hospital system is getting into the vaccine mandate game as well.
That's right, just two days ago, Novant Health, which is a North Carolina-based hospital system, they announced that 175 of their workers have been terminated due to the vaccine mandate.
And this, by the way, came after they first suspended almost 400 of their employees and gave them five days to comply.
Here's specifically what they said in their initial statement about five days ago.
They will have an opportunity to comply over a five-day unpaid suspension period.
If a team member remains noncompliant after the suspension period, he or she will have their employment with Novant Health terminated.
And so, after this five-day period passed, it appears that about 200 employees decided to ultimately get the shot, while the other 175 decided to hold out.
Here's specifically what the company said.
Nearly 200 additional team members came into compliance, increasing that rate across Nova and Health to over 99%.
So, fewer than 200 were non-compliant.
Now, the spokeswoman who made that statement, she went on to later confirm that those people, the people who were non-compliant, they were indeed fired.
She also added that the employees for Noven Health, who have either an approved medical or religious exemption, they don't have to get the vaccine, but they will have to undergo weekly COVID testing, as well as wear a mask and eye protection while they are on hospital premises.
She, however, did not elaborate on how many exactly of these types of exemptions were granted.
Now, if you've been following along, if you've been paying attention, you know that this is not playing out only in North Carolina.
It's actually playing out across the entire country.
In fact, just a few weeks ago, Indiana University Health, which is the biggest hospital system over in Indiana, they fired about 125 of their workers for not complying with the mandate.
Likewise, as we already discussed in a previous episode, here in New York, thousands of hospital employees are being either fired or suspended for refusing to comply, and that number will likely increase to tens of thousands within the next month.
For instance, over in Minnesota, almost 200 healthcare workers have collectively filed a lawsuit against their employers in order to block the vaccine mandates at their respective facilities.
Now, this lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of these almost 200 unnamed workers, it identifies over a dozen healthcare institutions, hospitals, etc., as the defendants.
These are places like the Mayo Clinic, Fairview Health Services, the University of Minnesota Physicians, and Regents Hospital.
And here's in fact what this lawsuit states is their grievance, quote, Plaintiff's employers are placing a substantial burden on their employees not to practice their religious-based objection to the COVID-19 vaccination or live under the threat of having their religious exemption withdrawn at any time.
Furthermore, this lawsuit states that these mandates are forcing the workers who have either religious objections or who have already had COVID and recovered from it, they are forcing them to get the vaccine so that the healthcare facilities, the employers, so that they can say that they have higher vaccination numbers and therefore they can get more money from federal subsidies.
And in terms of how this actually works in practice, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, they claim that the measures that are being pushed by the CDC, in some cases, And when they say denominator,
they likely are referring to the fact that having too many religious objectors actually lowers the overall percentage.
Now, in terms of what federal subsidies they are referring to in this lawsuit, well, very likely it has to do with what Joe Biden said just earlier this month.
If you remember, during that speech when he laid out his six-part plan in order to get more people vaccinated, Joe Biden announced a new federal mandate which stipulated that healthcare workers who work at facilities that receive either Medicare or Medicaid funding, they need to get vaccinated.
And facilities that don't comply with that mandate, they risk losing their federal funding.
Now, the lawyer who's representing the plaintiffs in this case, he was interviewed by a local newspaper over in Minnesota, and he said that besides the civil and religious liberty aspect of this case, he is also concerned about these vaccine mandates exacerbating what he called the critical shortage of nurses that this country is already experiencing.
Here's specifically what this lawyer said.
If people thought healthcare was being delayed from COVID, that's like a soft summer rain compared to what's going to happen when you fire all of these people.
Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we reached out to the hospitals who are the defendants in this case for comment, but we have yet to hear back.
However, here is what the Fairview Hospital System, who is a defendant in this case, here's what they said in a statement just earlier this month.
The vast majority of COVID patients hospitalized in the M Health Fairview system are unvaccinated.
We support the president's executive order because overwhelming evidence demonstrates the COVID-19 vaccines are very safe and they dramatically reduce the chance of spreading disease, hospitalization, severe illness, and death.
Now, if you would like to read more about this particular lawsuit or about what's happening in hospitals across the country, all those links will be put into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And all I ask in return is that when you're going down to click on those links, you take a quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
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Now, Roman in the studio, back to you.
However, since we're on the issue of vaccine mandate, you know that they go well beyond the medical industry alone.
And so let's talk a bit about the airline industry.
Two days ago, United Airlines, they announced that they are beginning the process of terminating 593 of their employees because they have not gotten vaccinated.
Although, frankly, when you look at the numbers, just like the numbers that you're seeing in the hospital system, this represents a very small minority of their actual workforce.
For instance, at United Airlines, they have 67,000 employees who work collectively at the company throughout the country.
And then the company released a statement just a few days ago saying that 99% of them are in compliance, meaning that they're either vaccinated or they have an exemption.
And according to that statement, about 3% of those employees have an exemption.
However, with the passing of the September 27th deadline, the close to 600 people who work at United Airlines who have refused the shot, they are now in the process of getting fired.
Here's in fact what the company said in a memo that they sent out to all employees.
For the less than 1% of people who have decided to not get vaccinated, we'll unfortunately begin the process of separation from the airline per our policy.
But if it's any consolation to the people who are losing their jobs, the CEO of United Airlines, Mr.
Scott Kirby, he recently said that he feels bad for the people who are being fired.
Here's specifically what he said during an interview over on CNBC. Look, I'm really proud and gratified that the United team, excluding the people who have applied for religious and medical accommodations, over 99% of them got vaccinated.
It proves that vaccine mandates do work and that you can get a huge percentage of your workforce vaccinated.
You know, I feel bad for the 593 people, that less than 1% that are going to leave, but we're focused on doing the right thing for United Airlines.
And it's great to have this in the rearview mirror for us, and the ability to just move forward now.
However, when I read his statement, I really wondered whether it's really the case that this matter is now done with, it's over, and it's totally settled.
That might not actually necessarily be the case.
That's because the definition of what it means to be fully vaccinated appears to change over time.
For instance, over in Israel, where they have a vaccine passport system in place, that passport actually expires six months after a person gets their second dose of the vaccine.
After which, if you would like to keep going to restaurants and bars, well, you need to keep getting booster shots in order to renew your vaccine passport.
And so, the people who are currently in compliance, well, they might fall out of compliance in the near future, and they might potentially need to get more booster shots in order to be considered fully vaccinated.
Although, when you hear that explanation, you might say, wait a minute, Roman, that's over in Israel, that's not here in America.
And you would be correct.
However, Dr.
Fauci, he recently made a statement which appears to imply that this is exactly the direction that we might be heading towards.
And for your reference, by the way, for many months now, being fully vaccinated here in America meant that you have had two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
However, during an exclusive interview with The Atlantic, here's what Dr.
Fauci said just earlier this month.
It is likely, for a real complete regimen, that you would need at least a third dose.
I've made it clear that my opinion has always been that I believe that a third shot booster for a two-dose mRNA vaccine should ultimately, and will ultimately, be the proper complete regimen.
Now, in explaining why exactly he believes that booster shots will be necessary moving forward, during that same interview, Dr.
Fauci said that the durability of the protection that the vaccines offer, they are subject to debate.
Here's specifically what he said, again, during that interview with The Atlantic.
We did not always know that a third dose would likely be an important part of the proper, complete regimen.
In the early trials, we started off with a prime followed by a booster.
And the results were so strikingly good, both in the animal model and in the phase 1, phase 2 trials, that we didn't have the luxury to say, wait a minute, we're going to try multiple different doses and make sure we get it just right.
We were in an emergency situation, so we went with what was really good.
Already, the track record has shown you that it has saved millions of lives.
And so, the employees who are inside of these airlines, inside of these hospitals, inside of these teacher unions, and so on, who are currently in compliance, well, if this continues down the trajectory that it appears to be going down, well, they might at the very least need to get a third booster shot in order to stay in compliance, although only time will tell whether that's really the case.
If you'd like to read more about the comments from Dr.
Fauci or about the decision made by United Airlines, I'll throw all those links into the description box below this video for you to check out at your own leisure.
And once again, all I ask in return is that you smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
And by the way, just as an aside, since we discussed airlines a moment ago, I'd like to take a quick moment and show you a very interesting video that just surfaced.
So this video was, by the way, posted on Twitter by a man named Ruben Hoffs, who is an aviation enthusiast, and he said that he stumbled across it over on TikTok.
And that video, it appears to show some kind of a mysterious plane technology, kind of looks like an alien curved aircraft, and allegedly, that video was recorded at a Lockheed Martin testing facility over in the Mojave Desert in California.
That is, by the way, where Lockheed Martin keeps a secretive testing facility that they call Skunk Works.
And for your reference, what they call Skunk Works is Lockheed Martin's Military Aviation Technology Division.
It was formerly known as the Advanced Development Program, and it's there that they develop many top-secret U.S. military aircraft.
And the reason that we know that that was where this video was shot, interestingly, is because when Ruben Hoffs, who is again the man who posted that clip on Twitter, he actually cross-referenced that scaffolding that you see in the background of the video with Google Maps, and he figured out that that was likely filmed over at Skunk Works, specifically in the Hellandale Radar Cross-Section Facility.
Now, two days ago, Mr.
Jeff Babillon, who is a vice president over at Lockheed Martin, and he's also the general manager of the Skunk Works, he was asked by a media outlet regarding that video.
And here's how that conversation went.
All right, Jeff, we've gotten a number of questions about this, and it was about a video last week that surfaced over on Twitter of an AFA, which is an aerial rocket artillery, at allegedly a Lockheed facility in some shape, if you will, on the back of a flatbed truck.
Are you able to tell us anything about what we saw?
And then he responded...
I can't.
Furthermore, it's not currently known whether this was one of the airplanes that the Taliban was able to get when they took over Afghanistan.
Just kidding.
If you would like to watch that full video for yourself, I'll throw a link to it into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now let's move on over and briefly talk about the UK. You remember that feeling when you first entered college as a freshman, how awkward it was having to be the new kid on campus and adjust to a whole new setting?
Well, you can thank the stars that at least you weren't an unvaccinated student over at the University of Bath in England.
That's because that particular school has a new policy wherein the freshman students have to wear wristbands with different colors signifying whether they are vaccinated or not.
Let me just repeat that.
Freshmen over at the University of Bath, they have to wear armbands that were handed out by school authorities in order to signal whether they've been double vaccinated or not vaccinated at all.
Here's an excerpt from London's Telegraph.
Freshers, meaning freshmen, have been given wristbands to signal whether they are vaccinated against coronavirus amid anger at emerging two-tier university campuses.
Students arriving this week at the University of Bath have been given a different colored wristband on club nights if they can prove in advance they are double jabbed or have COVID-19 immunity.
Furthermore, students who are not vaccinated have to wait in a separate line from those who are, which essentially means that even though the British Parliament has failed to pass the vaccine passport legislation, Vaccine passports are in effect being enforced on college campuses, at least on this particular one.
If you'd like to read more about this school, this University of Bath over in England, the link to that will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now let's move on over and briefly talk about the Olympics.
As you likely already know, next year's Winter Olympics, they are set to take place in China.
And although I'm sure that many of you are interested in flying over and seeing the Chinese Communist Party's Olympic festivities in person, well, you might want to hold off on buying your tickets just yet.
That's because just yesterday, the International Olympic Committee, they announced that only Chinese citizens will be allowed to buy tickets to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Let me just repeat that.
During next year's Winter Olympics, when athletes from all over the world go there to compete, only Chinese citizens will be allowed to attend.
Now, in the statement that they released, the International Olympic Committee, they said that this decision was made after far and wide-ranging consultations with the Chinese Communist Party, and they cited COVID as the main reason for this decision.
Here's part of what the statement said.
Quote, And then the Olympic Committee said further down in the statement that this decision is actually a good development since it will bring what they're calling a favorable atmosphere to the venue.
Here's what they wrote, quote, This will facilitate the growth of winter sports in China by giving those spectators a first-hand Olympic and Paralympic experience of elite winter sports, as well as bringing a favorable atmosphere to the venues.
Although, frankly, they did not elaborate any further on how not having any foreigners at the stadium would create a favorable atmosphere at the venue, specifically for non-Chinese athletes.
Regardless, though, with the many human rights abuses that are currently happening over in China, whether it's the literally recognized genocide of the Uyghur population, the organ harvesting that's currently going on against the Falun Dafa practitioners, the widespread imprisonment and persecution of the Christians, the crackdown over in Hong Kong, the cover-up the widespread imprisonment and persecution of the Christians, the crackdown over in Hong Kong, the cover-up of the virus, many people are comparing these Winter Olympic Games to the 1936 Olympics that were held over in Nazi Germany.
Although it's worth noting that even in the Nazi Germany Olympics, you could still buy a ticket if you weren't a German.
But of course, they didn't have the coronavirus.
Regardless, if you'd like to read this statement for yourself about the Winter Olympic Games, I'll throw a link to it into the description box below this video for you to check out.
Now lastly, since you've completed this episode of Facts Matter, then I would highly recommend that you head on over to Epic TV and check out an absolutely awesome episode of Counterpunch with Trevor Loudon, where he did a deep dive into a certain American communist who worked tirelessly to weaken the American military, to divide the country along racial lines, and to weaponize to divide the country along racial lines, and to weaponize the peace movement in order to disarm America.
Here's a trailer for that episode.
The American Communist Party has got about 5,000 members.
They're working 24-7 to tear this country down.
So I'm going to focus on one person today.
This is a woman who's worked with terrorists, who has been on the international stage, who has spoken at the United Nations, and now has basically positioned a leading Marxist as Secretary of the Interior.
Do you believe me now that communists can have a very negative effect on a country?
There are probably about 80,000 to 100,000 hardcore dedicated communists from various political parties working in this country today, plus tens of thousands of more of their allies and supporters, and they are working to a plan to bring this country to its knees.
If you want to check out that awesome episode, as well as all the other phenomenal content over on Epic TV, I'll throw a link to it.
It'll be right there at the very top of the description box.
I hope you click on it.
I hope you check it out.
I hope you subscribe.
And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honest journalism that's based in truth and tradition.
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Subscribe to this YouTube channel if you haven't already in order to get this type of honest news content delivered directly into your YouTube feed while YouTube still allows it.
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And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epic Times.
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