• Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
    • Trip Reports
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
Live and Let's Fly
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
    • Trip Reports
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
Home » Southwest Airlines » Southwest Airlines Unions Idealistic Not Realistic
CoronavirusSouthwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Unions Idealistic Not Realistic

Kyle Stewart Posted onApril 19, 2020September 13, 2021 10 Comments
My dear readers, some links on this site pay us referral fees for sending business and sales. We value your time and money and will not waste it. For our complete advertising policy, click here. The content on this page is not provided by any companies mentioned, and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone.

Southwest Airlines, temporarily the largest in the world due to the coronavirus crisis, will have to make changes to their operations. But the unions that are being idealistic, but not realistic. 


If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both support LiveAndLetsFly.com.


If you haven’t followed us on Facebook or Instagram, add us today.

Unprecedented Times

Some airlines have been better than others at disclosing just how bad the coronavirus crisis has affected its business. United, I have found, to be one of the most detailed which the stock market may not reward but should. Delta and American Airlines have indicated that revenue is down more than 90%, United, a bit more candid has indicated that passengers are down 97% compared to one year ago.

Following September 11th, reservations contracted globally between 12-37%. As Texas opens up next week (hub home to Southwest, American, and United), New York appears to have flattened the curve, travel is universally damaged like never before.

Bankruptcy Not on the Table

Southwest Airlines is currently the largest airline in the world as measured by seats flown. That’s a mind-boggling statistic but demonstrates the absurdity of the current situation. Despite its new role as world leaders, Southwest management has taken a few unique approaches.

Surprisingly, CEO Gary Kelly has told pilots that bankruptcy for Southwest Airlines is not on the table. He has taken a 10% pay reduction for the year (which pales in comparison to other airline CEOs.) But he has also made it clear that while they have enough cash reserves ($4bn) to make it through six months, that an extended downturn past that point will utilize too much cash and impair its future.

Kelly added:

“So we’ve never had a furlough in our history, I’m certainly not wanting to do that now. And that’s not our plan. And we just can’t ever promise that that won’t be the case. But it’s all predicated on this being a dip, and then returning to normal.”

Southwest Unions Not Budging

Some Southwest Airlines unions see statements by Kelly and other executives as unexpected.

“The contractual concessions that the company has asked us and other unions to consider are unrelated to head count imbalance,” said a letter to members from Lyn Montgomery, president of Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represents flight attendants. “Rather, Southwest Airlines now seeks reductions in our pay rates through a freeze to our pay scale as well as potentially other aspects of our contract.”

Another union has rallied around an employee lowest on the seniority list. That union is fighting any furloughs, which the airline is too.

Unions and management often have tense arrangements. Unions do not want to give up hard-fought benefits for members, but campaigning against any furloughs and failing to give any ground on contracts may be idealistic but not realistic in the current environment.

For airlines to come out of this crisis in the best possible scenario it will take a combination of concessions, furloughs, and creativity. Now is not the time for management nor unions to take principled stances.

Conclusion

This could be the toughest challenge that the travel industry faces in our lifetime (hopefully, it is.) While I have been supportive of American Airlines mechanics that waited for years to achieve a new contract and flight attendants at American that were furious for some time, Southwest Airlines union members should be fighting for jobs, not benefits. Those who are fighting furloughs may also consider just what it would take to avoid any layoffs at all and consider what is best for everyone involved.

What do you think? Are Southwest Airlines union leaders just doing their jobs to keep members as protected as possible? Is it really a time to fight pay cuts when jobs are on the line? 

Get Daily Updates

Join our mailing list for a daily summary of posts! We never sell your info.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Previous Article Had to Fly This Week: Hauntingly Quiet
Next Article Dodging American Airlines Amid Bankruptcy Fears

About Author

Kyle Stewart

Kyle is a freelance travel writer with contributions to Time, the Washington Post, MSNBC, Yahoo!, Reuters, Huffington Post, MapHappy, Live And Lets Fly and many other media outlets. He is also co-founder of Scottandthomas.com, a travel agency that delivers "Travel Personalized." He focuses on using miles and points to provide a premium experience for his wife and daughter. Email: sherpa@thetripsherpa.com

Follow us on FacebookFollow us on Twitter

Related Posts

  • Southwest Airlines Gunfire Dallas

    Southwest: Investor Forced Changes But Killed The Airline

    March 16, 2025
  • a white airplane flying in the sky

    Will Southwest Customers Book Interline Partner Icelandair?

    February 9, 2025
  • American Airlines CEO Vision

    American Airlines Staff Bonus As Out Of Touch As Management

    January 26, 2025

10 Comments

  1. WR2 Reply
    April 19, 2020 at 10:52 am

    It’s just postering now to try to gain leverage, nothing else. As we get closer to the hammer falling on October 1st they will be more pragmatic. We all know there will be massive layoffs and a complete rethinking of what levels of service are feasible and profitable once the taxpayers are no longer paying their payroll.

    • Therese Murray Reply
      April 19, 2020 at 5:42 pm

      I love So West and they are doing a fantastic job during these tuff times. Unlike American airlines, I live in Jamaica and have always flew American untill I knew I could Fly So West. I am an American Citizen however i am a resident of Jamaica my husband is Jamaican and i so chose to live in Jamaica. How i had to fly to Northern California on March 3rd 2010. Not knowing that COVID19 would cripple the world i know now that the cruise ship that came to JA and turned away was a warning. I am now at my Sons house here in Washington State via California (on So West where there was only 12 passangers.) I am stuck in limbo missing my home and want to go home and So West is not flying into Montego Bay and thats only because they arent taking any chances all ports are closed in JA and so i see that i can fly into Kingston the first week of May for a whopping $1647.00 that doesnt include luggage which is another $75.00 on American
      Thats totally ridiculous. If i wait till June 5th i can fly from Seattle to Montego bay for $382.00 much better
      Pay 60 for luggage on United im more liking this price. If it were So West it would be about the same as United and i would get baggage free.
      So i give So West 5 stars because they are doing the best to keep everybody happy. American is just as greedy as greedy Americans are . So West is actually waiting to hear from the Prime Minister to sau the ports are up and running.

  2. Anonimsl Reply
    April 19, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    As a member of one those unions, I can attest that the author has no idea what he’s talking about. Classic outsider without any practical experience in the field looking in and trying to formulate an opinion. Unfortunate.

    • Kyle Stewart Reply
      April 19, 2020 at 2:09 pm

      @Anonimsl – Feel free to fill us in, but without being a union member we can only go off statements from your representation, right?

      • Swing Away Reply
        April 19, 2020 at 7:44 pm

        I am also a member of one of these unions at SWA. My company has taken it upon itself to over staff in my work group in an effort to cut out the over time. Obviously this is the company’s prerogative and they can do this. Now every city that SWA flies to is over staffed because of the cut backs on our flight schedule. In my opinion the company wants us to take a potential pay cut because they’ve over hired. Some of the employees depend on this over time to pay bills. It’s not the employees fault that the company has hired to many people, but I shouldn’t have to pay for their mistake.

        • User8328 Reply
          April 19, 2020 at 9:43 pm

          I am one of those “over hired” people you are referencing that you think needs to be furloughed I suppose. I have a family to feed too and chose SWA because the group has always stuck together and looked out for each other. You were once at the bottom too and depended on those above to make responsible personal financial decisions. If you chose to live beyond your normal salary and can only pay your bills with overtime then I question your position. If you can’t live off regular pay then you should try living off the pay in those early years again. Very offensive that you would choose your overtime pay over fellow professionals trying to just make starting base salaries.

  3. Christian Reply
    April 19, 2020 at 1:38 pm

    I’m a very pro-union person but I think that in this case the unions are flat out wrong. If they expect gains to be shared when times are good, they need to pony up some when times are rough. They seem to expect a deal where they get the best of all worlds.

  4. anonymous Reply
    April 19, 2020 at 8:14 pm

    SWA management spent over $10B (that’s $10,000,000,000) in the last ten years buying back over 250 million shares of Southwest stock. Perhaps the employee unions would prefer management re-sell some of those shares to cover our losses, rather than ask the employees to bear the brunt of that lost capital.

    • 121Pilot Reply
      April 20, 2020 at 9:42 am

      You have to consider that there is more than one way to achieve labor cost savings and that these are the opening moves in negotiations in that direction.

      Management of course is going to want contract concessions. Those are easier to quantify and will last longer. The unions are proposing various other solutions that will provide temporary relief but not result in permanent losses of and when things get back to normal.

      Part of the problem right now is that no one has even the slightest clue what the recovery is going to look like. Unions know that headcount is safe until October so they are being smart in taking a go slow approach to any permanent concessions right now. Hopefully by the time October approaches we should have a real idea of how far off traffic is and what the rate of recovery looks like. Waiting allows the unions to have a far better idea of just how needed concessions are and they would be foolish not to take advantage of that extra time.

      From what I’ve seen most airline unions are being realistic right now. They fully understand the scope of the problem and are prepared to act as needed. But they are not going to give into panic and make moves that they may come to regret when they don’t need to yet.

  5. Mitchell Reply
    April 20, 2020 at 12:06 am

    Jesus said do not fall in love with things in this world and that’s what we have done. The only thing we should fall in love with is people. That way when hard times come we can help each other out, in other words it is called love your neighbors. Let’s try that and everything thing else will work itself out. I’m thankful for the SWA management team and the Union management team. Thank you both. You both are the best. Now let’s just get along and do what’s best for all team player’s.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Search

Hot Deals for July

Note: Please see my Advertiser Disclosure

Capital One Venture X Business Card
Earn 150,000 Miles Sign Up Bonus
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Earn 100,000 Points
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Earn 75,000 Miles!
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Earn 75,000 Miles
Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Earn $750 Cash Back
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Earn 120,000 Membership Reward® Points

Recent Posts

  • Ritz-carlton yacht collection ilma
    Questions (And Answers) About Ritz-Carlton Yachts “Struggles” July 6, 2025
  • Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun
    Days After Hyatt Bought Playa Resorts It Sold The Properties July 6, 2025
  • Spirit foam incident detroit courtesy of Airline.net
    Spirit Airlines Foam Incident In Detroit Will Cost It Dearly July 6, 2025
  • United Airlines Sting Chicago
    United Employee Caught in Predator Sting At O’Hare Airport July 5, 2025

Categories

Popular Posts

  • Qatar Airways Economy Class Breakfast
    Economy Class Breakfast On Qatar Airways June 7, 2025
  • Favorite Airline Commercials
    My 10 Favorite Airline Commercials June 15, 2025
  • a blue passport on a black surface
    All The Patriotic Quotes In Your U.S. Passport July 4, 2025
  • Qantas Lounge Review Hong Kong
    Review: Qantas Lounge Hong Kong (HKG) June 14, 2025

Archives

July 2025
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
« Jun    

As seen on:

facebook twitter instagram rss
Privacy Policy © Live and Let's Fly All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Live and Let's Fly with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.