Over 80 employees were present Friday, Oct. 22, to protest the mandate. (Photo by Ashley McCarty)

Over 80 employees were present Friday, Oct. 22, to protest the mandate. (Photo by Ashley McCarty)

<p>Signs were posted at the entrance of Jaybird Road in Peebles, Ohio. (Photo by Ashley McCarty)</p>

Signs were posted at the entrance of Jaybird Road in Peebles, Ohio. (Photo by Ashley McCarty)

By Ashley McCarty

People’s Defender

Employees at General Electric Aviation in Peebles, Ohio, are rallying against a mandate which requires all federal contractors to be vaccinated by Dec. 8.

GE Aviation currently has 350 employees at the Peebles facility. Across Ohio, GE employs over 9,000 individuals.

On Sept. 9, President Joe Biden released an executive order called “Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors.” According to the order, it “promotes economy and efficiency in Federal procurement by ensuring that the parties that contract with the Federal Government provide adequate COVID-19 safeguards to their workers performing on or in connection with a Federal Government contract or contract-like instrument.”

On Friday, Oct. 15, the effective date for the executive order, Chief Human Resources Officer Kevin Cox sent an email to GE employees informing them of the new mandate and the subsequent actions they were expected to take by Dec. 8:

“Recently, the U.S. federal government issued new guidance for federal contractors as part of an Executive Order called Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors. The new rules require federal contractors to ensure all employees who work on federal contracts are fully vaccinated no later than December 8 of this year,

“We have been working to better understand the specific requirements of the Executive Order and to determine how, as a large U.S. federal contractor, it applies to GE. Given the number of federal contracts GE has, the broad coverage of the Executive Order, and the potential consequences of non-compliance on the Company, we have decided to require all U.S. employees to be fully vaccinated in order to meet the requirements of this Executive Order,

“We have not made this decision lightly, as we understand our employees have differing views. For many of our employees who have chosen to vaccinate, this decision seems considered and logical. We have other employees who have chosen not to vaccinate, for a variety of reasons. The decision we’re announcing today won’t be a popular one among this group of employees, something we understand and appreciate. We’ve said from the beginning of the pandemic that we would follow all of the laws, rules and regulations of the various countries in which we do business. In this case, that means we must comply with the Executive Order, as it pertains to our U.S. employees. Given the circumstances, we hope you will respect this decision,

“As required by the Executive Order, we have established a process whereby employees can seek accommodation for medical or sincerely held religious beliefs. We will have a process to pursue these accommodations if you are so inclined. Also, we realize there are some states that are challenging, or plan to challenge, the Executive Order for employees who live in those states. We will adjust to changes on a case-by-case basis,

“Your business will share more specifics on the process for submitting your vaccination information as well as information on accommodations. As a part of the Executive Order, your business will also share enhanced face protection guidelines in order to remain legally compliant with the Order as a federal contractor. Thank you for your continued dedication to delivering for our customers and for your commitment to compliance with this new regulation.”

In response, on Wednesday, Oct. 20, and Friday, Oct. 22, employees at GE Aviation assembled at the site to contend the mandate. Over 80 employees were present both Wednesday and Friday.

“We were told to get vaccinated or apply for a medical or religious exemption. If you don’t get vaccinated, and you’re not approved for one of these exemptions, as of Dec. 8, you were going to be separated from the company. Our facility was, up to last week, at about 20 percent vaccinated. We’re running about 350 employees currently. The vast majority of our employees either don’t want to reveal that they’re vaccinated, because they feel it’s not GE’s business or, they don’t want to submit themselves to being injected with a substance that is highly controversial,” said Kevin Zornes. Zornes has been employed at GE Aviation for nearly 18 years.

“Like any other place, we were affected by it here. We had personnel contract it, we had people, unfortunately, pass away, but management did not enforce [any safety protocols]. So, we’ve got a large number of employees that do not want to do this, and GE is completely unmoving. They will not listen to us. They will send emails saying ‘Thank you for your input. Reach out to your leader if you have questions.’ We have reviewed the executive order ourselves. There appear to be a couple of options included in the executive order that was listed as recommendations that would have enabled GE to provide five days of counseling to employees who don’t want to get the vaccine. If the counseling was not successful, then the next step was a two-week suspension. After that, they could move on to termination,” added Zornes.

According to Zornes, GE didn’t even consider it.

“They just gave us a deadline of December 8. We feel like our opinions and beliefs are being completely disregarded,” he said.

GE sent employees medical and religious exemption forms which would be submitted and considered by upper management.

“Some employers are allowing their employees to write written statements on why they have a religious exemption; GE has provided us with forms. It’s very clear with the religious exemption that it is designed to make it nearly impossible to get. There are questions on there that are very insulting to someone with religious beliefs. For example, they give a list of medications that purportedly use fetal cells in their development or testing. Of course, one argument against the vaccine is the fact that they use fetal cells in the development or testing. That goes against a lot of people’s beliefs here at the facility, including mine,” said Zornes.

According to lozierinstitute.org, the fetal cell lines used to test or produce commonly-used COVID-19 vaccines Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson and Moderna are from two sources:

● HEK-293: A kidney cell line that was isolated from a fetus in 1973

● PER.C6: A retinal cell line that was isolated from a fetus in 1985

The list of purported medications was Acetaminophen/Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, Tums, Lipitor, Senokot, Xigris, Guafenisen/Mucinex, Prilosec OTC, Maalox, Simvastatin, Ex-Lax, Zocor, Ibuprofen/Motrin/Advil, MMR Vaccine, Zostavax, Amlodipine/Norvasc, Benadryl, Sudafed, Aspirin, Albuterol, Preparation H, Enbrel, Azithromycin, Metformin, Lidocaine/Lidoderm, Claritin, Zoloft, Suphedrine, Havrix, REGEN-COV2, Remdesivir, Dextromethorphan/Robitussin and Aleve.

“They want to know if we’ve been using those because the implication is if you’re using those, why can’t you take the vaccine? There is another question that asks if your religious belief prevents you from complying with other safety protocols or requirements designed to keep you safe such as wearing goggles, steel-toed boots or wearing a seat belt while driving. Those are not the same things. I can take off my goggles, seat belt and shoes. I can’t take a vaccine out of my body. It’s very insulting. Worse off, it’s obvious that it’s designed to make it nearly impossible to get,” said Zornes.

According to Zornes, the religious exemption will go to corporate human resources.

“Those people don’t know us. They’re looking at a piece of paper and determining, essentially, whether we’re going to be able to support our families. I personally took my medical exemption to my doctor. He is like-minded, he does not believe in these vaccines. When he saw the form, he said they’ve made it to where very few conditions would qualify for a medical exemption. Our management has not been forthcoming. There’s a lot of turmoil throughout GE, but it’s being squashed. So, we’ve been having these rallies. We’re united, and we’re letting everyone know that they’re not alone in this. We’re in this fight together. We’re faced with losing our jobs. Our families are at stake here,” said Zornes.

According to Zornes, very little work is being done at GE Aviation in Peebles. Employees are using their sick and vacation times as another form of protest.

“We’re out here. We’re on our own. We know no politicians are coming to save us. We’re just hoping to get as much publicity as we can. We just need as much help as we can get now from the community. We’re looking at planning a rally at the courthouse. We’re looking for public support on that,” said Zornes. The rally will be held Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. on the courthouse square.

Mike Parker has worked at GE for 17 years.

“I’ve already made it known to management and HR here that I would be leaving if I don’t get a religious exemption. I’m standing on my religious beliefs and convictions. I’m standing for God. It’s sad that it could cost me my job, and it looks like it might. But, they know. That’s how strongly I feel against this mandate. I don’t think it’s fair for an American to have to make a choice like this. I don’t agree with it. Am I against vaccines? Absolutely not. I know and work with people that have had their vaccine. I’m not against them. But, my personal conviction through my belief in God, I don’t agree with it. That’s where I stand,” said Parker.

If the mandate goes through, and GE remains unyielding, Parker is unsure what he will do.

“I’ve been here 17 years. I’m not going to go out and replace this job. I make good money here. I planned on retiring here. That’s a good question, and it’s hard to answer. I’m going to rely on God and see what happens,” said Parker.

Daniel Evans has been employed with GE for 25 years.

“I believe this is being forced upon the entire nation by the president as a mandate, which is not constitutional law. Companies are bending to the mandate when the nation should stand up and fight for their rights of the freedom of choice. To choose whether to get vaccinated or not. That has always been our freedom. Now, it’s being forced upon us to take the vaccine or lose our job, with only two exemptions. The questions on the forms are almost entrapment,” said Evans.

Evans plans to file a religious exemption.

“I’m going to file a religious exemption, and pray that it gets accepted. If not, the company will release me and all other non-exempt employees. At some point, we have to put our faith in God and pray that he will provide for me and my family,” said Evans.

GE remained unavailable for comment as of press time.