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Home » Southwest Airlines » Why Are Pilots Suing Southwest Airlines?
Law In TravelSouthwest Airlines

Why Are Pilots Suing Southwest Airlines?

Matthew Klint Posted onSeptember 1, 2021November 14, 2023 8 Comments

a group of women in uniform standing in front of an airplane

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) has sued Southwest Airlines, asserting that the Dallas-based carrier has violated federal labor law through its “emergency” policies attributed to the pandemic.

Why Are Pilots Suing Southwest Airlines?

The complaint, lodged by the union on behalf of pilots, was filed in federal court on Monday in Dallas. It describes grievances in several areas, including:

  • Southwest’s “emergency time off” program
  • Schedule changes
  • Reduced prescription drug and retirement benefits
  • Hotel and transportation benefits
  • Quarantine rules for impacted pilots

Let’s briefly unpack each area. First, pilots claim that Southwest’s “emergency time off” program is invalid because it was “imposed” on employees rather than arrived at through collective bargaining. Put simply, pilots were offered voluntary unpaid leave. No one was forced to take it, though many did. The union claims that Southwest was not even permitted to offer this without first negotiation the package.

Second, not only has Southwest Airlines constantly tinkered with flight schedules, but this tinkering has caused an unprecedented degree of uncertainty. With flight schedules frequently changing and Southwest suffering operationally this summer, pilots often find themselves reassigned at the last minute, which creates stress and may lengthen time away from loved ones or impact other important duties. After pilots threatened to picket over the holidays, Southwest recently trimmed its schedule voluntarily.

Third, pilots claim emergency unpaid leave policies result in reduced retirement and prescription drug benefits.

Fourth, hotel and transportation benefits have been trimmed due to COVID-19 (in some cases due to hotel policy and at not the direct fault of Southwest), which creates friction, particularly after a long duty day.

Finally, pilots who are exposed to COVID-19 are forced into a mandatory quarantine, even if they do not contract the virus. During that time, they are not paid. The union calls this withholding pay.

SWAPA claims all of these changes require Southwest to follow the collective bargaining process. Southwest invoked force majeure, arguing the sudden and drastic drop in air travel in March 2020 constituted an uncontrollable emergency that threatened the survivability of the airline and therefore could not wait for negotiation. However, pilots state that the current agreement does not contain an explicit force majeure clause.

All this comes under the backdrop of contract negations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement has expired, but remains in force until a new agreement is implemented.

In its lawsuit, SWAPA called the conduct by Southwest “illegal” and claimed it resorted to “asymmetrical warfare in negotiations.”

“More specifically, defendant Southwest Airlines has issued and implemented an Infectious Disease Control Policy during the COVID-19 pandemic that significantly altered the working conditions, rules, and rates for pay for pilots.”

Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines says its actions were justified. Russel McCrady, Vice President of Labor Relations, said Southwest “has been forced to respond to the unpredictable challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“The airline disagrees with SWAPA’s claims that any COVID-related changes over the past few months required negotiation. As always, Southwest remains committed to pilots’ health and welfare and to working with SWAPA, and our other union partners, as we continue navigating the challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic.”

Negotiations continue.

CONCLUSION

Southwest did not report a profit for the first time in 48 years. As travel uncertainty remains, Southwest and SWAPA could not be further apart, with Southwest calling for pay cuts while the union wants pay raises. This could get very ugly…

image: Southwest Airlines

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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8 Comments

  1. ed Reply
    September 1, 2021 at 9:20 am

    it’s bargaining positioning. WN enjoys, next to Delta, with minimal unions, the best pay and the best labor relations in the business. Yes all the changes were painful, but not career threatening. The will make a deal and shake bands and go back to doing with Labor and Management do each day.

  2. 121Pilot Reply
    September 1, 2021 at 10:17 am

    What’s really interesting is that this lawsuit was filed at all.

    In labor law you have major disputes and minor disputes. Almost every contract violation you can think of is generally held to be a minor dispute that is required to be addressed through the grievance process. To rise to the level of a major dispute that gets you in front of a judge you have to have a contract violation that is much much more severe. Something along the lines of a company unilaterally cutting pay rates by 50% for example and even that might not be severe enough.

    Everything I see here seems to me to fall into the min9r dispute category. Which means I would expect a judge when this gets in front of him to reject the lawsuit immediately. SWAPA I would strongly suspect knows this full well.

    So I see this as a bargaining chip being used in negotiations that are likely ongoing. Just like the public stand they recently took got the company to trim their schedules they are using this to generate adverse publicity for a company that really doesn’t like these kind of public disputes. It will be interesting to see how effective it proves to be.

  3. Dave Edwards Reply
    September 1, 2021 at 10:26 am

    By using a picture of 3 female pilots, which is a rarity, you are subtly suggesting it is only women complaining.

    Please be more careful lest you be accused of sexism. The woke mob is everywhere and no one is safe!

    • Tjwgrr Reply
      September 1, 2021 at 2:59 pm

      @Dave Edwards Perhaps one of those three “female” pilots identifies themself as a male or non-binary. 😉

      • PolishKnight Reply
        September 1, 2021 at 9:23 pm

        I’m amused because when I saw the photo I thought it was an attempt to pander to the woke crowd by portraying pilots as women.

        The paranoia about portraying “protected classes” only in a positive manner has ironically led to a dearth of diversity in the media in that in films, women can largely only be portrayed as “Mary Sues” or victims. Until Europe also started to go woke, I found the continent to largely have more realistic portrayals of women.

  4. Jerry Reply
    September 1, 2021 at 2:32 pm

    Lot’s of jobs require employees to take on additional tasks when times are tough. According to glassdoor the average salary for a Southwest pilot is $251,047 annually. I just don’t think I feel that bad for them.

  5. JProschwitz Reply
    September 1, 2021 at 6:04 pm

    I’m not sure I completely understand the foundation of this lawsuit. Southwest offer pilots voluntary unpaid leave without first going to the Union but quite a few pilots took Southwest up on its offer. Is Southwest wrong for making the offer or is the union membership wrong for accepting the offer outside of negotiations, keeping in mind no one forced any Southwest pilot to take voluntary unpaid leave. Schedule changes are part of the airline industry Southwest was the only US carrier to post a pretax profit in Q1 and they’ve posted pretax in Q2 as well. All of the additional flying Southwest is doing has help Southwest financially so what are they complaining about.

    I do agree with the pilots they should get paid while in quarantine but only if it is determined they came into close contact or were infected with COVID while at work.

    • 121Pilot Reply
      September 2, 2021 at 9:16 am

      The foundation is that under the law things like rates of pay, leave, etc are controlled by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between SWAPA and SWA. The way the law is written if Southwest wanted (for example) to just give all pilots a 10% pay raise they are required to negotiate with the union and come to a formal agreement on this. So when SWA instituted the leave policy absent an agreement with the union it represented a contract violation. Now as I mentioned above this is properly a case for the grievance system but filing a lawsuit generates publicity and puts pressure on SWA to make a deal.

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