BUSINESS & AG LIFE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — B3
U.S. employers ratchet up the pressure on the unvaccinated
By ALEXANDRA OLSON
The Associated Press
NEW YORK —
Employers are losing
patience with unvaccinated
workers.
For months, most
employers relied on infor-
mation campaigns, bonuses
and other incentives to
encourage their workforces
to get the COVID-19 shot.
Now, a growing number are
imposing rules to make it
more onerous for employees
to refuse, from outright
mandates to requiring the
unvaccinated to undergo
regular testing.
Among employers get-
ting tougher are the fed-
eral government, the state
governments of California
and New York, tech giants
Google and Facebook, the
Walt Disney Co. and the
NFL. Some hospitals, uni-
versities, restaurants, bars
and other entertainment
venues have also started
requiring vaccines.
But the new measures
are unlikely to aff ect many
of the millions of unvacci-
nated Americans.
Many of the companies
that are requiring shots have
mostly offi ce workers who
are already largely vacci-
nated and are reluctant to
work alongside those who
aren’t.
In contrast, major com-
panies that rely on low-in-
come blue-collar workers
— food manufacturers,
warehouses, supermarkets
and other store chains —
are shying away from man-
dates for fear of driving
John Minchillo/The Associated Press, File
An employee manually assembles a circuit-board element on
Wednesday, April 28, 2021, at a Nanotronics manufacturing center at
the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Mat-
thew Putman, CEO of Nanotronics, said in July 2021 he agonized over
his decision to impose a vaccine mandate on his more than 100 em-
ployees, who have mostly been working onsite throughout the pan-
demic. As it turned out, nearly all of his workers were already vacci-
nated, though he dreads the prospect of having to fi re any holdouts.
away employees and wors-
ening the labor shortages
such businesses are facing.
Tyson Foods, for
instance, said about half of
its U.S. workforce — 56,000
employees — has received
shots after the meat and
poultry processor hosted
more than 100 vaccination
events since February. But
the company said it has no
plans to impose a mandate
to reach the other half.
Walmart and Amazon,
the country’s two largest
private employers, have
also declined to require its
hourly workers to get vacci-
nated, continuing to rely on
strategies such as bonuses
and onsite access to shots.
But in a potentially pow-
erful signal, Walmart said
employees at its headquar-
ters will be required to get
vaccinated by Oct. 4.
The biggest precedent
so far has come from the
federal government, the
nation’s largest employer.
President Joe Biden
announced last week that
all federal employees and
contractors must get vacci-
nated or put up with weekly
testing and lose privileges
such as offi cial travel.
The federal government
has said it will cover the
costs of the weekly tests.
As for other employers,
insurance may pay for such
testing at some workplaces
but not others.
Biden’s decision could
embolden other employers
by signaling they would
be on solid legal ground
to impose similar rules,
said Brian Kropp, chief of
research at consulting fi rm
Gartner’s human resources
practice.
But Kropp said some
companies face compli-
cated considerations that go
beyond legalities, including
deep resistance to vaccines
in many states where they
operate.
Retailers like Walmart
might have a hard time jus-
tifying vaccine require-
ments for their workers
while allowing shoppers to
remain unvaccinated, Kropp
added. Stores have mostly
avoided vaccine require-
ments for customers for
fear of alienating them and
because of the diffi culty in
trying to verify their status.
In surveys by Gartner,
fewer than 10% of
employers have said
they intend to require all
employees to be vaccinated.
But a shift is building
amid frustration over pla-
teauing vaccination rates
and alarm over the spread
of the more contagious delta
variant.
On Monday, Aug. 2, the
U.S. fi nally reached Biden’s
goal of dispensing at least
one shot to 70% of Amer-
ican adults — but a month
late and amid a fi erce surge
that is driving hospital case-
loads in some places to their
highest levels since the out-
break began. The presi-
dent had hoped to reach his
target by the Fourth of July.
The Union Square Hos-
SCHWAB
OXARC
Continued from Page B1
Continued from Page B1
While the second phase
is being completed, the cus-
tomer service and adminis-
trative offi ces will tempo-
rarily move to a mobile offi ce
space outside.
Along with construction,
the company has hired new
employees to reduce wait
times.
“We’ve hired multiple new
employees, fi ve in the last
three months with the idea of
just trying to do everything
we can to keep our customers
happy and to keep them on
the road with as little down-
time as possible,” Stebar said.
Construction ramps up Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, at the La Grande Les
Schwab on Adams Avenue.
“We need a bigger
facility, something that’s
more eff ective for what we
want to do,” Sean Louden,
OXARC manager, said.
“We’re expanding our steel
and culvert pipe supply, so
we need a bigger facility,
and other avenues we want
to do right now that we
just don’t have the capacity
for.”
The company has been
expanding its resources
in recent years and now
has 20 locations and 300
employees across Idaho,
Washington and Oregon.
DROUGHT
MORE INFORMATION
Continued from Page B1
The survey suggests
age as a factor in deter-
mining who is concerned
about water management.
Around 63% of people
age 18 to 44 said they are
somewhat or very con-
cerned while around 74%
of those older than 45 were
concerned.
Concern also increased
with education — 60%
of those with only a
high school diploma said
they were concerned
with the number rising
to 76% of those with a
college diploma.
Party affi liation also
played an important role
in how people felt about
water management —
78% of Democrats said
they were somewhat or
very concerned while 61%
of Republicans fell into
this category.
Survey respondents
had a variety of opinions
about the management of
groundwater by farmers
and ranchers. Subsidizing
water-effi cient irriga-
tion systems received the
strongest support among
mitigation strategies,
along with increasing the
state budget for ground-
water research to ensure
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
The Oregon Values and
Beliefs Center, a nonpartisan
charitable organization, has
partnered with Pamplin Media
Group and EO Media Group to
report how Oregonians think
and feel about various subjects.
The Oregon Values and
Beliefs Center is committed
to the highest level of public
opinion research. To obtain
that, the nonprofi t is building
the largest online research
panel of Oregonians in history
to ensure all voices are repre-
sented in discussions of public
policy in a valid and statistically
reliable way.
Selected panelists earn
points for their participation,
which can be redeemed for
cash or donated to a charity. To
learn more, visit oregonvbc.org.
future availability. Both
fell into the so-called
tier-one support category
for having the support of
70% or more of survey
respondents, according
to the Oregon Values and
Beliefs Center.
“It’s notable that nei-
ther proposal involves
more restrictions or limita-
tions on agricultural water
usage, but rather encour-
ages and facilitates proac-
tive solutions,” according
to the survey. “Both pro-
posals do, however, neces-
sitate larger fi nancial
investment from the state.”
Tier-two proposals to
conserve water — those
that had 50% to 60% sup-
port — include proposals
to require groundwater
users to submit annual
usage reports to regulators
(59% overall support) and
to require meters on all
groundwater wells (54%
overall support).
Proposals that received
the least amount of support
include capping total water
use and creating a market
allowing users to buy and
sell portions of their allot-
ments. These received just
35% total support. They
also received the greatest
amount of opposition, with
46% of respondents saying
they oppose the proposals.
The proposal to prohibit
wells that deplete surface
water received the highest
percentage of unsure
answers (21%), which
indicates lower levels of
awareness on this issue,
according to the survey.
The largest gap in the
survey was found in opin-
ions about a proposal
to require meters on all
groundwater wells. Just
40% of rural Oregonians
support this proposal com-
pared to 60% of urban
Oregonians. The report
notes that this is not sur-
prising given that ground-
water wells are more
common in rural areas.
The survey also broke
down the responses by eth-
nicity. It summarized that
Black, Indigenous and
other Oregonians of color
diff er from white Orego-
nians only slightly in their
level of overall concern
pitality Group, a group of
New York City restaurants
and bars founded by Danny
Meyer, is now requiring
employees and customers to
be vaccinated by Sept. 7.
The San Francisco Bar
Owner Alliance, a group
of about 300 bars, made a
similar decision following
a meeting where “the thing
that stood out was anger and
frustration” toward vaccine
holdouts, said founder Ben
Bleiman.
While some companies
fear vaccine mandates will
drive workers away, the pan-
demic itself is also causing
absenteeism. Bleiman said
he recently had to close his
bar for a night after his bar-
tender, who was fully vac-
cinated, tested positive and
a replacement couldn’t be
found.
Some employers are con-
cluding that requiring vac-
cines is simpler than trying
to come up with diff erent
rules on masks and social
distancing for the small
number of unvaccinated
employees.
BlackRock, the global
investment manager, is
allowing only vaccinated
workers into its U.S. offi ces
for now and said people
will be free to go mask-
less, as local health guide-
lines allow, and sit next to
each other and congregate
without restrictions. The
fi rm said 85% of its U.S.
employees are vaccinated
or in the process of getting
shots.
Matthew Putman, CEO
of New York-based high-
tech manufacturing hub
Nanotronics, said he ago-
nized over his decision to
impose a vaccine man-
date on his more than 100
employees. As it turned
out, nearly all of them were
already vaccinated, though
he dreads the prospect of
having to fi re any holdouts.
“I hate the thought. But
if it has to happen, it has
to happen,” Putman said.
“I lost a ton of sleep over
this but not as much sleep
as I’ve lost over the fear of
infection.”
Other mandates could
provide a clearer test of
the potential for employee
backlash.
Hospitals and nursing
home chains, for instance,
are increasingly requiring
the vaccine. So far, such
mandates have survived
legal challenges. More than
150 employees at a Houston
hospital system who refused
to get the COVID-19 shot
were fi red or resigned
after a judge dismissed an
employee lawsuit over the
requirement.
Atria Senior Living,
which operates more than
200 senior living commu-
nities across the country,
was among the fi rst to man-
date vaccines for its staff in
January.
It worked. Nearly 99%
of Atria’s 10,000 employees
are vaccinated, and only a
tiny fraction quit over the
requirement, said CEO and
Chairman John Moore.
“Our residents deserve to
live in a vaccinated environ-
ment. Our staff deserves to
work in a vaccinated envi-
ronment,” Moore said.
“We’re going away
from renting and going
to owning,” Louden said.
“We bought this property
last August. We’re starting
to duplicate the stores
everywhere on properties
that the company owns.”
The expanded building
will be an upgrade from
the much smaller OXARC
location in Island City,
which the business has
lived in since 2005.
The La Grande man-
agement has been looking
for a new location for
fi ve years, according to
Louden.
The new facility will
have a larger parking lot
and more administrative
offi ces. The store currently
has fi ve employees, which
will likely increase with
the new move.
With less than two
months until comple-
tion, the main priority is
working with subcontrac-
tors on inspections inside
the building and working
on trim on the outside of
the building.
There have been few
delays in the construction,
according to Teeter.
“There’s a lack of
drivers, just some ship-
ping delays, but it’s been
going pretty well,” he said.
“We just hope we con-
tinue to receive shipments
of materials.”
about how surface and
groundwater are managed.
White Oregonians were
only slightly more con-
cerned — 69% vs. 64%.
There were minor dif-
ferences between ethnic
groups in whether they
supported state funding
for groundwater research.
However, the groups
tended to align when it
came to solutions. The
results varied only a per-
centage point or two in
most response categories,
according to the Oregon
Values and Briefs Center.
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