For almost ten years I have worked as a director of software engineering for a large, international company. My employer announced last month that it would require all its American employees to sign up for an online proof-of-vaccination database by November 1. Those of us who don’t participate will be put onto unpaid leave in December and fired in January.
In response I sent the following letter to about 110 colleagues whom I know personally, both up and down the management chain. After some tense back-and-forth with Human Resources this week, it appears my letter will not result in an earlier termination.
The responses from colleagues were touching and encouraging: I plan to address them in a future post.
Dear Colleagues,
I have decided that I will not provide proof-of-vaccination to [company].
I don't mean to imply that I'm not vaccinated. I am unwilling to disclose whether I am vaccinated.
My reasons would take pages to describe, but they fall into these categories. To provide my proof-of-vaccination would:
undermine our government by implicitly endorsing the expansion of executive power.
invite a surveillance state.
expand the usage of private businesses as enforcement mechanisms for government policy.
endorse untruthful propaganda regarding an appropriate level of response proportional to the current level of risk posed by this disease.
forsake colleagues who will not share their own vaccine papers. Some of my own reports and several outside our team have expressed to me that they are opposed to this new condition for working at [company]. I feel obligated to show solidarity with them.
facilitate the financial gain of pharmaceutical profiteers.
empower the quidnuncs and martinets among us.
promote the anathematizing of minorities. (I'm afraid that majorities in our population are becoming quick to categorize bright and well-meaning dissenters as stupid or malicious. Apart from the unkindness to people with minority opinions, I think it's culturally dangerous to silence any minority viewpoint instead of engaging it in debate and letting it grow or collapse on its merits.)
I don't want to do this. I've been testing my motivation, and I believe it's conscience, not stubbornness or politics, compelling me. I cherish my job and my colleagues. I'm grateful to [company] for steady and fairly compensated employment. I am grateful to all of you for your consistent patience, candor and cordiality. If [company] chooses to terminate my employment, I'll miss working here.
I also understand that many of you approve [company]'s decision to require a workplace vaccine passport. I'm grateful to all of you who have been either supportive to me or polite in your disagreement. If you want to discuss it with me further, please feel free to contact me privately at [personal email].
I think [company] is making a mistake in agreeing to act as an enforcement agency for an executive order. Of course [company] already adheres to government rules, but this feels like new territory, and I worry that by agreeing to it, [company] is ceding its autonomy. I can imagine a hundred initiatives that might seem good to government but bad to [company].
We're setting a precedent here that a president who identifies a crisis can order a company to make new demands of its employees. But we use the word "crisis" pretty loosely to describe everything from climate and handguns (on the left) to border control and international terrorism (on the right). I'm afraid that future presidents who sense that the majority is sympathetic to their thinking will follow this example.
If I'm right—if this mandate is a step on the critical path towards a more totalitarian, less tolerant, less private, and less humane world—then other steps will follow, and each of us will have to decide at what point his conscience forbids him to proceed. Some will stop when a president commands an employer to require a monthly vaccination against the common cold. Some will stop when employment requires proof-of-birth-control or proof-of-antidepressants. Some will stop when a president requires employers to identify and ban colleagues who are designated as political risks: maybe because they're resident aliens, or gun owners, or part of BLM or a church.
It's unpleasant to get caught by surprise when your employer sends you an email telling you to do something that feels deeply wrong. I urge you to think now about where your own sense of right and wrong will insist that you can't comply.
Sincerely
Michael Hardt
Thank you for such a well thought out and well written blogpost. I was at best ambivalent regarding the vaccine mandates, and at most extreme, glad that they had been mandated. I read your article quite a while ago and it's been playing in the back of my mind ever since. A couple things that have led me to now agree with you. 1) I believe that as a country we did the best we could with what we have. I'd go so far as to say that we did better than we could have. We are a Western country with a very individualist ethos. That as many as complied did is a credit to the open-mindedness of the +/- 75% who have had at least one vaccine. It is unreasonable to ask that a culture radically change based on one event such as this pandemic. 2) I also fear the power of the government/employer to ask for more and more personal medical knowledge. To wit:
Good Morning All,
This is not as detailed as we need this to be. Please express specific medical conditions/reasons so that the district can determine next steps in order to keep (employee name) safe.
Respectfully,
(Administrator's name)
Interim Director, Human Resources
District Communications
Two doctor's notes are already on file. The issue is over wearing a mask/face shield. There are no mask mandates anywhere in the state but the Board of Education has decided they wish to continue it. Legal? Probably. Scary? Definitely. I am the union rep for the employee and this has already been quite difficult to navigate.
Thank you again on your clearly expressed thoughts!
Something related from Powerlineblog: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/11/everything-not-forbidden.php