Raytheon CEO expecting to lose ‘several thousand people’ due to vaccine mandate

U.S. aerospace and defense company Raytheon Technologies expects to lose “thousand of employees” due to its coronavirus vaccine mandates, according to CEO Greg Hayes, reports Reuters. 

Hayes spoke with CNBC  Tuesday and told the outlet that the company is developing a plan to replace the expected loss of unvaccinated workers, according to Reuters. 

Reuters reports that the company of 125,000 has said it is going to comply with President Biden’s vaccine mandate and insist all workers be fully vaccinated by mid-December, which the company views as a means to bolster business.

“Higher vaccination rates will continue to build confidence in the safety of air travel going forward,” Neil Mitchell, the company’s chief financial officer, said, according to the Washington Post. 

However, Reuters reports that the Tomahawk-missile manufacturer’s CEO said during a post-earnings conference call that he expects the federal government’s vaccine mandate to cause “some disruption” to the supply chain.

This echoes concerns that have been brought up by other industry groups that have warned that the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate will worsen the country’s supply chain problems amid the holiday season. 

Other business groups are asking Biden to delay the vaccine mandates for private companies until the holiday season has passed, as business have only until Dec. 8 to comply. The companies are asking for the implementation to be paused until no earlier than late January.

Biden maintains that the mandates are necessary in order to turn the corner on the pandemic and continues to encourage businesses to issue the requirement, saying earlier this month, “These requirements work… more people are getting vaccinated. More lives are being saved.”