Boeing workers stage protest over US vaccine mandate

Waving signs like "coercion is not consent," and "stop the mandate," some 200 Boeing Company employees and others staged a protest on Friday over the planemaker's Covid-19 vaccine requirement for US workers.

Boeing said on Tuesday it will require its 125,000 US employees to be vaccinated by December 8 under an executive order issued by President Joe Biden for federal contractors.

Biden and his team have struggled to vanquish the coronavirus pandemic because a large swath of the US population continues to resist taking safe and widely available vaccines.

"It's my choice and it's my body," one avionics engineer said, his voice nearly drowned out by anti-Biden chants and trucks honking to show support along the busy street outside Boeing's factory in Everett, north of Seattle.

"It's an experimental drug given under a pseudo-emergency," he added.

Another worker, an assembly mechanic, said: "This is America. We don't just do what we're told because one person says to."

A Boeing spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this week, Boeing said employees must either show proof of vaccination or have an approved reasonable accommodation based on a disability or sincerely held religious belief by December 8.

Major US airlines including American Airlines have said they will also meet the deadline imposed on federal contractors, as has aircraft parts manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems SPRN.

"Now that he has issued the Executive Order, it is our responsibility to comply with that order," Spirit Chief Executive Officer Tom Gentile wrote in a memo to employees and seen by Reuters on Friday.

Spirit was calling back former employees as it prepares for what Gentile characterized as "one of the fastest increases in production rates in the history of our industry."

Several Boeing employees at the protest said they were applying for exemptions. One engineer said he might seek early retirement, rather than complying with the mandate.