FORT WORTH — The Biden administration’s announcement of executive orders to mandate the COVID vaccine among employees of businesses with federal contracts has caused rampant frustration among workers in all industries in Texas and the U.S.
Last week, General Electric factory employees walked out to protest the mandates, and before them were the airline pilots. Now, employees in another quintessential Texas industry, aeronautic engineering, are rising up against the overbearing vaccine plan.
On Wednesday, November 3, a rally for medical freedom will take place outside of Lockheed Martin’s plant in Fort Worth.
“We are a group of concerned employees and believe this is an issue of extreme government overreach that, if not addressed, is going to have much larger implications than many people realize right now,” one rally organizer told Texas Scorecard. “With that in mind, we are not protesting LM or other companies; in fact, we all want to keep working for them! We just believe the vaccine mandates violate our medical freedoms and the government should not be in charge of what is put into our bodies.”
Adding insult to injury as Lockheed workers prepare to rally in their defense, Gov. Greg Abbott and state lawmakers have failed to protect Texans from vaccine mandates in three called special sessions of the Legislature. Though Abbott has issued an executive order to ban the mandates, businesses have largely ignored it.
The prospect of a fourth called special session is overwhelmingly popular among grassroots conservative voters. In a recent Texas Minute survey, more than 95 percent of participants said a fourth special session is necessary—but Gov. Abbott disagrees.
“There is no need for another special session at this time,” said an Abbott spokesman last week.
Both Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi have called on Abbott for a fourth special session, along with several other lawmakers and conservative organizations.
While lawmakers stand idly by and allow corporations to discriminate against unvaccinated employees, the working class has risen up to fight for medical freedom.
A flyer with the full details for the rally can be found here.
