ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Railroad has rescinded its mandate for employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccination following a Tuesday vote by the state-owned railroad’s board of directors.
The Anchorage Daily News reports the board voted unanimously to rescind the mandate, announced Friday in an email from CEO Bill O’Leary to employees [see “Alaska Railroad to require vaccinations,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 26, 2021].
A railroad spokesman said 52.6% of the Alaska’s 692 employees are currently vaccinated. The spokesman, Tim Sullivan, said the decision not to comply with the vaccination requirement mandated by a federal executive order could cost the railroad millions of dollars in federal grants and contracts. The railroad is currently involved in an effort to land a $100 million federal grant to build a new 18-mile spur to serve a liquefied natural gas facility [see “Alaska railroad part of effort seeking $100 million in federal funds …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 26, 2021]. The railroad also leases space from the U.S. Forest Service in a historic Anchorage freight shed.
Sullivan said the board’s decision reflected pending legal challenges to the federal mandate, citing a lawsuit filed by Arizona’s attorney general. The railroad will wait to see what happens in court and could revisit the decision later, he said.
The newspaper quoted board chair John Shivley as saying the railroad has “been put in a very difficult position by the federal government. There’s not a single board member that likes this at all.”
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