Workers from the Continental plant in St. Marys took to the street to protest the requirement to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
On September 9th, President Joe Biden issued a vaccine mandate through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for employers who have one hundred employees or more. Plus, Biden ordered a mandate for companies that have federal contracts, like Continental, without an option to do weekly COVID testing. While there have been some changes to the first part, there some questions about the future of mandates for employers that have federal contracts.
“We are seeing a lot of pushback, of course OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) mandates have been halted. But we are federal workers, we are federal contractors, they are pushing the date back over and over again and we believe they will continue to do that,” says Kelly Fogle, protest organizer. “It’s our body and our choice we shouldn’t have to decide between working and getting a vaccine.”
Joining the Continental workers were members of the local United Steel Workers union and Lima Community for Medical Freedom Group.
