Hundreds Of Moog Employees Walk Out Over Vaccine Mandate

Hundreds of employees for the company Moog Facilities held a walk out in protest of a vaccine mandate in Elma that is scheduled to take effect in December. 

Within the next month and a half, more vaccine mandates will be rolled out in companies across Western New York. This puts those workers who have not gotten the vaccine yet, either due to medical reasons or personal reasons, into a very tough situation that could completely alter their career path. Should I get the shot, or change my profession?



This particular mandate with Moog states that U.S. government contractors must be vaccinated by December 8 and federal employees have to be vaccinated by November 22 -- the same mandate from the United States Department of Defense. 

However, not all Moog Facilities employees can get behind this, so the workers walked off the job on Oct. 25 and began their outdoor protest. Employees protesting this mandate do not think they should have to get the injection(s) in order to keep the job that some have had for years.

As it stands now, nearly half of all Moog employees have not received their shots. The protest is expected to continue through Oct. 27, but it is likely that Moog employees will wait longer than that before returning to the job. 

Matt Schieber, the Stream Loop Leader, wants people to know that this protest of the vaccinate mandate is simply that: an anti-mandate protest.

“We don’t care, we just want to work,” Schieber said. “We don’t want to be forced to take a medical procedure.”

If the vaccine mandate is not adjusted, many Moog employees are expected to lose their jobs approximately two weeks before the holidays. This mandate also applies to all of its employees, regardless of whether they deal with government contracts, or work on-site, or remotely. 

Here’s a clip from the protest on Monday. 

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