“These measures toward employees provoke excessive social tensions and push them to quit,” Deldyuzhov wrote, urging Poluboyarinov to lift the order to dismiss unvaccinated pilots.
According to the trade union, the approach being taken by Aeroflot is going ahead “despite the fact no one obliged the employer to take such measures.” Delduzhov claims that a total of ten pilots – including both aircraft commanders and co-pilots – have applied to the union for support over the issue.
Russia has grappled with slower-than-hoped vaccination rates despite having three authorized and widely available vaccines.
The Kremlin has maintained that Russia’s vaccination campaign is purely voluntary, but urged vaccine-hesitant workers in professions where vaccines are mandatory to change jobs.
Russia’s labor minister warned this summer that unvaccinated workers risk being sent on unpaid leave. He noted, however, that Russia’s labor code does not prescribe firings for refusing vaccination.
Companies working in a number of sectors, including transport, as well as hospitality and leisure, are required to demonstrate that 60% of their staff have received a jab or else face hefty fines, under new rules introduced by the government in Moscow over the summer. Officials have confirmed that bosses can send home staff and withhold their salaries in order to meet the quotas.
Although free COVID-19 vaccine jabs have been available to Russians since December, just 39 million out of a population of some 146 million have been fully vaccinated and 46 million received at least one dose.
