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Michigan-based workwear brand Carhartt is receiving immense backlash online after announcing that they will be keeping their vaccination mandate. This comes after the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s workplace vaccine mandate, which requires employees to be vaccinated or tested for Covid-19 on a weekly basis. Several conservatives are now burning their Carhartt garments.
The company’s new regulations were made public after they sent out an email to employees. Mark Valade, the CEO of the company said:
“We, and the medical community, continue to believe vaccines are necessary to ensure a safe working environment for every associate and even perhaps their households. While we appreciate that there may be differing views, workplace safety is an area where we and the union that represents our associates cannot compromise.”
Valade added in the email:
“An unvaccinated workforce is both a people and a business risk that our company is unwilling to take.”
Internet reacts to Carhartt’s vaccine mandate
The company's employees were required to be vaccinated by January 4 and would face termination if they refused to cooperate. Carhartt added that they would be making religious and medical exemptions and a review would be conducted to gather information for the same.
The company told Forbes that the “vast majority” of workers had complied with their vaccine mandate. However, a few medical and religious exemptions have been granted.
Conservatives took to Twitter expressing rage and many are boycotting Carhartt's products. Netizens believe that employees must be allowed to make their own medical choices. A few tweets read:
Company responds to mass outrage
A spokesperson for the company told Forbes that they respect the diverse opinions on vaccination and are aware of the backlash they are receiving from their own associates as well. They added:
“However, we stand behind our decision because we believe vaccines are necessary to protect our workforce.”
As the company faces massive backlash, they have extended the time by which employees in two locations must be vaccinated. Madisonville and RCV company associates must be vaccinated by February 15.
