General Electric employees walk out over COVID vaccine mandate in South Carolina

Workers at a General Electric Gas Power service plant held a walkout on Thursday morning, beginning around 10:45 am.

The staff at the Greenville plant in South Carolina walked out in a response to the Biden administration’s executive order demanding all federal contractors receive the COVID vaccine.

By the Washington Examiner’s estimates it was a crowd of one-hundred people at the Greenville plant, which employs around 3200 workers.

The sentiments expressed were a sense of betrayal — this was once a group of working people deemed "essential" who are now being told to hit the road.

"All GE U.S. employees will be fully vaccinated or receive a medical or religious accommodation by December 8th as required in the order," a GE spokesperson told local outlet WMBF.

An employee who spoke to the press said they were all only told about the vaccine mandate requirements for their people specifically, as of last week.

Another GE employee spoke on record to another outlet.

"It’s important for me to be out here because of the government overreach and infringement on our personal liberties. What business does the government have telling you what you can and cannot do with your own body, concerning this vaccine," staffer Neil Slater told WSPA.

The reaction from that crowd was that GE employees were either seeking exemptions for the COVID mandate, or outright seeking employment elsewhere.

It was back on September 9th that President Biden unveiled the most extensive and elaborate of the White House’s COVID vaccine mandate regimes. Not only is there a focus for the public sector, but he’s also leaning on OSHA to institute guidelines for private sector businesses who have over one-hundred employees.