A new Michigan coalition of business groups — Listen to MI Business — was launched Monday, requesting President Joe Bidento “reconsider” vaccine mandates against COVID-19.
Biden’s mandate was positioned to affect 80 million workers across the nation, requiring vaccines for businesses with more than 100 employees. Monday, groups like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Rapids Chamber, Traverse Connect and the Lansing Regional Chamber pushed for the White House to reassess if the order is worth it.
“The Biden plan unnecessarily pits employers and employees against each other at a time when our economy, communities and families can least afford it,” the press release on the coalition reads. “The arbitrary 100-employee dividing line will cause vaccine resistant/hesitant workers to quit jobs at larger businesses and look for employment elsewhere.”
Although religious and medical exemptions can be used, a report from Fortune found that nationally, companies expected losing between 2% and 8% of their employees due to the vaccine mandate in September.
“Every state and business is different and employers cannot, and should not, be responsible for carrying the full weight of this one-size fits-all mandate,” said Rich Studley, president and CEO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. “Michigan’s employers have been on the front lines of the pandemic, working to reopen safely while protecting their workers and customers and keeping our economy moving.”
Warren Call, president of Traverse Connect, said none of its 7,500-plus businesses should be solely tasked with rolling out a vaccine requirement during an extreme labor shortage.
“While we agree our employers and governments each have a role to play, private businesses must be allowed to make their decision based on what is best for their employees and customers,” Call shared in the statement.
The website for the new coalition is requesting individuals to submit their name and company as a way of asking Biden to reconsider directing Michigan business owners to distribute mandatory vaccines and COVID-19 testing for workers.
The business coalition debuted just after a state official who oversees the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration told a legislative committee the state would have to adapt as stringent as any standard that comes out of federal OSHA.
Biden has directed the federal OSHA to come up with the emergency temporary standard with respect to the vaccine mandate for larger employers.
The disclosure from the state official prompted the Republican Governors Association Monday to issue a press release that read “after years of anti-small business policies, it’s no wonder Gretchen Whitmer is ready to enforce yet another job-killing mandate from Joe Biden’s administration. This federal mandate will put business owners in an impossible situation just as they are beginning to rebuild after Whitmer’s draconian Covid restrictions shut them down last year. With Whitmer blindly embracing the overreaching federal mandate, small businesses will be the ones who suffer.”