While other major carriers have struck industry-leading deals with their pilots, Southwest Airlines’ pilots union says the Dallas-based carrier needs to ramp up contract negotiations before the busy holiday traveling season.
This past weekend, pilots at Chicago-based United Airlines reached an agreement in principle with its company, raising pay by up to 40% over four years. United is the latest of the major airlines to strike a deal with pilots, including Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which reached a deal in May.
American’s tentative agreement proposes about a 21% pay raise for this year on top of back-dated raises going back to 2020 and more increases in years to come. In March, Delta Air Lines pilots approved a new contract that would raise pay by more than 30% over four years.
Union pilots still need to vote to ratify the deals at American and United.
But Southwest Airlines Pilots Association president Casey Murray said negotiations “aren’t going well.” Last month, the union asked federal labor regulators to be released from mediation with the carrier amid a three-year contract battle, moving one step closer to a strike. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association represents Southwest’s over 9,000 pilots.
“We had mediated sessions last week and the company’s offers were extremely regressive,” Murray said. “We’re further away now than when we filed for release with the NMB two weeks ago, and it’s just extremely disappointing.”
Southwest had 14 days to respond since the union’s ask for release and has filed comments, Murray said. He anticipates to know more within the next week or so.
The union 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. In May, Southwest pilots overwhelmingly authorized the union to start preparing for a potential strike. The strike would need the approval of federal regulators and would likely draw intervention from Congress and the White House.
“We feel confident that the mediation process will continue driving us even closer to a final agreement that rewards our pilots and supports our business,” said Adam Carlisle, vice president of labor relations in a statement. “We have a 52-year history of taking care of Southwest employees, and we look forward to continuing that legacy.”
The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American’s 15,000 pilots, also weighed to members in on United’s deal. In a note to members, the union said United CEO Scott Kirby “has found ways to address pay and quality-of-life items for his pilots that American CEO Robert Isom and his team have repeatedly told us were simply impossible to do here.” The union told members it will review developments for ways to proceed.
Murray said the deal with United should put some pressure on the carrier to get the deal done, but the airline will continue to lose pilots to other major carriers if there isn’t a deal soon.
He has two hopes he believes will push the carrier and union closer to an agreement.
Getting released from federal mediation would put “even greater pressure on Southwest to get something before the holidays because the holidays would have been about the time than an actual work stoppage would commence,” Murray said.
Southwest’s top executives should also get directly involved in bargaining, the pilot union leader said. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom began sending video messages directly to pilots as early as June 2022, talking about raises and matching deals at competing carriers.
“That’s something that has been missing,” Murray said. “It’s also something that we’ve seen with American, Delta and United is that their CEOs got involved, and ultimately, that’s what got them a deal. No one from leadership has set foot in negotiations since we began.”
