All Tyson employees must get a coronavirus vaccination by Nov. 1; vaccinated front-line workers will get $200 bonus

Tyson Foods will require its 120,000 U.S. workers to be vaccinated by Nov. 1, "making it the largest food company to mandate vaccinations in an industry beleaguered by coronavirus outbreaks,"  Taylor Telford and Abha Bhattarai report for The Washington Post. "Less than half of Tyson’s workforce is vaccinated, chief executive Donnie King said Tuesday in a memo to employees. Tyson leadership will have to be vaccinated by Sept. 24, while other office workers will have until Oct. 1." Front-line Tyson workers who present proof of vaccination will get a $200 bonus.

The nationwide rise in infections, driven by the Delta variant, has prompted many companies to mandate vaccinations and other distancing measures. But that's mostly been among white-collar employers such as Google and Facebook. Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, mandated vaccines for corporate employees; it increased its cash incentive for vaccinated store and warehouse workers rather than requiring a shot, Bhattarai and Erica Werner report for the Post. Ford Motor Co. employees don't have to get a shot but have to mask up in states where such mandates are allowed.

"Tyson’s sweeping mandate marks a shift in how some companies with employees who work in proximity to one another may be reconsidering their role in preventing the spread of the virus," Telford and Bhattarai report. "Mandates from companies like Tyson — whose employees work in conditions more conducive to virus spread — are more likely to have an impact on nationwide vaccination rates, according to Laura Boudreau, an assistant professor of economics at Columbia Business School."

A representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 24,000 Tyson employees and 250,000 food-processing workers nationwide, said it is seriously concerned about the mandate and wants employers to provide paid leave so workers can get vaccinated without worrying about missing work.