There are now open contract negotiations with more than 41,000 workers at Southwest, more than two-thirds of the entire company’s workforce. Southwest is also in important contract negotiations with unions for pilots and flight attendants, which have each expressed frustration about how the company is handling the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and how it has treated its workers over the last two years. Southwest Airlines president Mike Van De Ven said the union is now going back to survey members to ask them why they didn’t want the deal.ĭallas-based Southwest has been trying to balance surging travel demand with a workforce that is both smaller and battered after two years of pandemic flying.
Leading up to the vote, local president John Coveny said he was confident that this deal would gain the support of the union. The union representing the workers, District Lodge 142 of the International Association of Machinists, has not responded to requests for more information about why workers rejected the deal. But the customer service segment is still down more than 1,000 employees compared with before the COVID-19 pandemic, and that group will need to get a boost as the number of travelers return. The company has hired about 9,000 people since last fall. Southwest Airlines has already cut more than 20,000 flights this summer as it tries to reduce its schedules to adjust for the number of employees it has. “There are two sides to this and it’s a process, but our desire is to compensate them,” Jordan said. “We want to pay our employees well,” said Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan at the company’s annual shareholder meeting Wednesday. It also comes as companies across the country and the world are facing pressure to raise worker wages and provide better working conditions with the highest demand for workers in decades. Neither the company nor the union is saying why the employees turned down the tentative contract, which gave immediate 6.5% raises, 3% raises each of the next three years, a $1,000 to $3,000 signing bonus and protections against mandatory overtime.īut the rejected deal does come at a time when Southwest Airlines is scrambling to hire workers, from gate agents and ramp workers to pilots and mechanics. Southwest workers who staff ticket counters and gates in airports and field calls from customers voted down the contract earlier this month, the second time since October that the employees have rejected a contract from the company. Southwest Airlines leaders are trying to figure out why its 6,100-member customer service union overwhelmingly rejected a contract proposal with pay raises, signing bonuses and overtime protections, adding to the carrier’s list of labor worries ahead of the pivotal summer travel season.
Southwest's labor challenges grow as 6,100 customer service workers reject deal
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