Tyson Foods now has 96% of its frontline workforce vaccinated against COVID, two months after announcing a vaccine mandate, the company and the union representing many of its workers announced jointly.
Tyson was the first major food company to mandate vaccinations for all employees, in August. The action was about a month ahead of the Biden administration making either vaccines or weekly COVID testing mandatory for large employers.
The Tyson mandate goes into full effect Nov. 1. On Oct. 26, Tyson CEO Donnie King wrote on the company blog: “We couldn’t be happier to say that, as of today, over 96% of our active team members are vaccinated – or nearly 60,000 more than when we made the announcement on August 3. This is an incredible result.”
After Tyson announced the company mandate, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents 26,000 Tyson workers, negotiated a deal to allow up to 20 hours of sick leave for Tyson workers a year.
“Working together, the UFCW and Tyson set a new standard with this vaccine mandate and have proved what’s possible when we listen to workers and negotiate the implementation of vaccination mandates fairly and responsibly,” UFCW president Marc Perrone said in a statement.
