Southwest Airlines pilots have asked the federal government’s National Mediation Board to release them from negotiations. This would set the countdown clock to allow them to strike, which 99% of their members voted to authorize last month.
While Delta pilots and others have been getting big raises, Southwest’s pilots have been frustrated not to bring their own contract negotiations to a conclusion. And they’ve been showing their frustration, for instance making a show of walking out of company meetings.
SWAPA Pilots came out in full force to the @SouthwestAir rally in LAS yesterday to show how displeased with a lack of a contract we are. We will continue to fight for a contract worthy of the most productive #Pilots in the industry. pic.twitter.com/m3JdsDzmDG
— Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (@swapapilots) February 23, 2023
Somehow pilots think public demonstrations make them look good and put pressure on the company. They present as uniformly older, white, and wealthy. These aren’t the workers that, say, Cesar Chavez fought for.
A #pilot career is a leap of faith. You bet on a privilege that can be taken away, health that can escape you, and an industry that is unforgiving.
We fight so hard for pilot contracts because that’s the only advocacy we have for a life fully invested!@swapapilots ❤️#family pic.twitter.com/8vvKnSuqWQ
— Mike Panebianco (@FlyinMikey) May 11, 2023
SWAPA Pilots supporting @WestJet @ALPAPilots as they hold informational picketing in Toronto, Canada. pic.twitter.com/WgtGeRy9EL
— Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (@swapapilots) May 9, 2023
Pilots are going to get a big raise at Southwest, and they’re already well-paid for the work that they do – flying Boeing 737s on relatively short stage-lengths. But their salaries don’t reach the level of those who fly widebody aircraft to far-flung destinations they way they do at United, Delta and American. The National Mediation Board releasing them from negotiations would put tremendous pressure on the airline to come to an agreement.
However this result is not automatic. The National Mediation Board’s purpose is to avoid disruption in transportation so they do not have to immediately grant a request for release from negotiations. They can keep the parties at the bargaining table.
Once they do grant a request, and the body skews pro-union but also major transportation disruption doesn’t benefit the popularity of the Executive Branch, a “cooling off period” begins which is generally 30 days. Once the period lapses, a union is free to strike and the airline is free to lock out the employees.
In the extreme, however, the mediation board could order an extended cooling off period or push for binding arbitration, generally based on the impact to the public and the economy that would occur as a result of a strike. They’re far more likely, though, to allow a major airline strike at the end of the summer than over the Christmas holidays.
Bargaining is about to get very interesting at Southwest Airlines.
seriously, Gary.
ALL airline pilots are heavily white and that has nothing to do with their right to ask for the right to strike under the Railway Labor Act.
DAL had that right, got an industry leading contract which no comparably sized airline has implemented, and UAL whose pilots also have not asked for the right to strike has also received a contract while AAL pilots have.
It is a right which has worked and LUV pilots are perfectly justified to use it – regardless of their skin color.
Lol Gary is mister “anti-woke” when it affects him but when the “help” asks for pay raises they are greedy “older, white, and wealthy. These aren’t the workers that, say, Cesar Chavez fought for.”
Just say you hate labor and don’t try act like it upsets you because they lack diversity.
or Gary race baits when it might help to generate article clicks even if it doesn’t reflect what he really believes.
If Southwest does not want to agree to a contract, the pilots deserve a right to strike. What are the positions of each side?
@chad – No, the Southwest pilots are going to get paid, and in the current environment they certainly should. I just don’t have sympathy for their plight, casting themselves as among the downtrodden.
where did LUV pilots say they are downtrodden, Gary? Not your interpretation but simple facts.
And the point is not getting paid but getting paid more under a new contract.
If you would like to front the difference in between what LUV pilots and DAL pilots make on DAL pay and benefit scales, then I am certain that LUV pilots will be happy to wait quietly for the company to pick up the tab from you.
You clearly don’t understand the basic dynamics of the airline industry or you are just interested in clicks. Which is it?
Downtrodden or not, I’d much prefer to entrust my life to a pool of individuals compensated *extremely* generously so as to attract the best talent; it honestly shocks me that the pay scales are as low as they are given the degree of responsibility inherent in the role. I hope the recent upward jump becomes an ongoing trend.
I like to break down Gary’s often senseless pontifications for clicks. The story is really this:
WN pilots want more money. WN leadership doesn’t want to give it. WN pilots claim, “Look at Delta!” WN leadership panics and starts a waiting game. WN pilots now threaten to strike.
That’s basically it. Gary, of course, must add a few juicy tidbits to what is an otherwise boring story as to labor negotiations. Such as they are white men and whatever…because, you know, clicks.
I would have just added this to the story: Ol’ Herb’s greatest moments in contract talks with pilots, his telling them that what they want is not enough, and then giving them more. But also reminding them that if given no choice they would do this job for nothing they love it so much. Herb is and always will be Southwest, and Gary would be much better off telling that story and what I often imagine or reflect on in my own business decisions, “What would Herb do?”
The overall health of the airline should also be of concern to the employees; surely the pilots realize the need for new software to run things like crew staffing. Robbing Peter to pay Paul isn’t the model of reform
@Matt,
Unions dont care. The point of a union is that it’s always someone else’s fault.
@john,
No that’s not the point of a pilot’s union…. In this case they just want an appropriate market rate adjustment and management is doing their job by delaying.
In a free society, Southwest would have the right to fire every last one of them. It would certainly place negotiations on a more level playing field,
SWA could certainly try to fire every last one of them. They’d only have to find 10,000 pilots with the qualifications required to operate SWAs flight schedule willing to work for less than UAL/DAL/AA/FedEx/UPS pay…oh, and for a company that will can you if you get too expensive.
Lemme know how that works out for ya and the flying public, James.
Also, nice of Gary to censor my last post pointing out his inaccurate (best case) or biased (worst case) understanding of the RLA process or pilot negotiating dynamics.
@ Dan77W
350K to have “George” in control 99% of the time is already insanity.
“Appropriate market rate” is a loaded term for “pay or more or we strike”
@John,
I said appropriate market rate adjustment…… the market rate is the market rate, no reason SW pilots should continue to work under an amendable (expired) contract while their contemporaries at other airlines make huge gains. During the next recession with a glut of young pilot the market rate will go back down…. It is what it is then the ball will be in mgt’s corner like it was for the last 2 decades. The envy is dripping from your comments, try to be less spiteful.
There’s no envy. There’s the reality that pilot salaries have been artificially propped up by crony capitalism via THREE. SEPARATE. BAILOUTS.
You talk about salary resets-the reset should’ve been COVID, when airlines go bankrupt and exit their current deals.
@John
So what should they get paid? And you know as well as I do the average SW pilot does not make 350k…. What do you think is fair compensation? 50k? 100k? 150? 200?…what is acceptable to you? I made between 35k-60k for the first decade flying folks around to subsidize cheap airfares when the market was kept artificially low due to easy Ch 11 bankruptcy laws….do you think that was acceptable? That’s precisely why a whole generation of would be pilots stopped learning how to fly, partially leading to a shortage we are in today….again this is the pendulum swinging.
I am not sure what being “white” has to do with their excellence as pilots‼️If there are Black or Latino or Asian qualified pilots I am sure SW would hire them. People don’t get to choose their race, they do however choose their career and ability to do it well! Can we just stop the never ending race bating by the WOKE LEFT⁉️