The Financial Times spoke about complaints from companies in the United States against Biden’s order to vaccinate personnel Biden on vaccinating employees. Enterprises with more than one hundred employees by January 4 must vaccinate all workers, or weekly test those who have not been vaccinated, writes the Financial Times.
Rick Powell, co-owner of Pemmco Manufacturing, which makes parts for companies like General Motors, said he has never broken the law before, but is now considering simply not complying with the decree. His company employs 135 people. “We have a problem with that. And there is always the possibility of simply not doing it. We consider ourselves an ethical company. It is not in our nature to deliberately break the law, but now we have to talk about it, “the entrepreneur noted.
Powell is one of tens of thousands of business owners facing new demands. Fines for violation will amount to approximately 14 thousand dollars, and if the violation is recognized as “intentional” – then about 140 thousand. In total, the decree covers about 84 million employees and more than 100 thousand enterprises.
Biden announced the measures in September, pointing to low vaccination rates in the country. The figure is now 58 percent, well below the G7 average of 66 percent. Powell claims his company has about 40 percent of its employees vaccinated, but he is confident that if people are forced to comply with the requirements, some will leave – including for religious reasons.
A problem for businesses like Powell's business. is that its employees can go to work in smaller companies to which the requirements do not apply. Other companies are complaining about similar difficulties: for example, Patrick Gebel, the head of the construction company Star Lumber, offered employees remuneration and additional days off, but it is not yet possible to bring the vaccination rate to more than 50 percent.
At the beginning of November it became it is known that in the Russian city of Obluchye, the Jewish Autonomous Region, a team of employees of an ambulance station, consisting of 15 people, decided to quit. Employees refused to be vaccinated, and according to the requirements, 80 percent of ambulance workers must be vaccinated. The Ministry of Health promised to find a replacement for them. Later, some doctors changed their minds to quit and signed up for vaccinations.