The union for pilots at Southwest Airlines is asking federal labor regulators to be released from mediation with the carrier amid a three-year contract battle, moving one step closer to a strike at the nation’s largest domestic airline.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association says the two sides have failed to make any meaningful progress on issues including pay, work rules, pilot fatigue and scheduling, despite oversight from the National Mediation Board to push closer to a deal.
Only seven weeks ago, Southwest pilots overwhelmingly authorized the union to start preparing for a potential strike, a step that moves the airline closer to a shutdown. That, however, would need the approval of federal regulators and would likely draw intervention from Congress and the White House.
Southwest has roughly 9,300 pilots, and CEO Bob Jordan has cited the shortage of pilots and a backlog in training as a constraint on flights during the busy travel summer.
The pilots’ union is accusing Southwest of “evasive negotiating tactics” that have led to a standstill since February, the last time the two sides came to an agreement on contract provisions. The union requested federal mediators nine months ago.
“Despite SWAPA’s continued best efforts, Southwest refuses to engage in substantive discussions or offer ratifiable proposals in the areas of work rules, fatigue mitigation, quality of life provisions, and compensation for its pilots,” the union’s negotiating board said in a letter to National Mediation Board chair Linda Puchala. “What is worse, Southwest’s evasive negotiating tactics continue despite multiple meltdowns, including December 2022, which has been widely recognized as the worst in aviation history.”
Southwest is the only major airline that has not yet come to some kind of tentative agreement with union pilots as a shortage of aviators is pushing up pay across the industry. Fort Worth-based American Airlines came to a tentative agreement with the Allied Pilots Association in May, a deal that would add roughly $8 billion in cost over four years. Delta and United has also come to tentative deals with their pilots. Delta pilots agreed to a new contract with 34% pay raises in March. Pilots at Chicago-based United Airlines did reach a tentative deal last summer, but it was turned down before it went to a vote before members.
Like others, Southwest pilots want pay increases that would bring them in line with those at other major airlines.
In a statement, Southwest Airlines’ labor relations vice president Adam Carlisle said that “We strongly disagree that we’re at a point which justifies either party asking to be released from mediation.”
“We’ve continued meeting regularly with SWAPA and, in fact, made an industry-leading compensation proposal and scheduling adjustments to address workplace quality-of-life issues for our Pilots,” Carlisle said. " We feel confident that mediation will continue driving us even closer to a final agreement that will benefit both our Pilots and Southwest Airlines. We have a 52-year history of taking care of Southwest Employees, and we look forward to continuing that legacy.”
Southwest is also in negotiations with flight attendants, and the board of that union rejected a proposed contract last week.
The union has taken aim at Southwest Airlines for restarting the payment of dividends to shareholders, about $214 million this year, after the lifting of restrictions for the carrier accepting government aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. December’s flight cancellation meltdown has also given the union ammunition to demand improvements in scheduling and flexibility after many workers were left stranded and without assignments when the company’s crew rescheduling software was overwhelmed by winter storms during the holiday season.
“It is a difficult time to be a pilot at Southwest. Since 2020, we have lost more than 30,000 days off to mandatory assignments caused by antiquated scheduling practices and anemic tech spending,” the union’s letter to the National Mediation Board said. “Meanwhile, we continue to fall behind the other Big Four major U.S. airlines in compensation, retirement, and quality of life work rules in an increasingly strained operation.”
Airline employees, unlike most private sector workers, are governed by the Railway Labor Act and can’t strike without going through a lengthy process with government oversight. That would include a 30-day cooling down period and likely more mandatory mediation.
“I would say that they have a fundamental problem connecting pilots to airplanes,” said Southwest Airlines Pilots Association president Casey Murray. “It’s the way they are using pilots. It’s wasteful and fatiguing.”
