Southwest Airlines flight attendants have stepped forward as the first work group to formally request the White House drop the federal mask mandate.
The TWU Local 556 union, which represents the airline’s flight attendants, wrote to President Joe Biden seeking an end to the mandate.
The issue of mask compliancy has led to ‘physical and verbal assaults in our workplace increasing dramatically’ it wrote.
“It is important to note that a large portion of our membership has expressed that they would like the freedom to choose whether to wear a mask at work.”
“We strongly believe it is now time to give our members and passengers the opportunity to choose if they prefer to wear a mask while flying,” the TWU Local 556’s executive board added.
“In the spirit of bringing normalcy back to our front lines as aviation’s first responders, we ask that you consider lifting the federal mask mandate for airline travel and will move expeditiously.”
The TSA recently extended the face mask mandate for another month to April 18.
The CDC said it is drawing up guidelines and a possible timeline for safely dropping the mandate on planes and in airports.
