Pilots At Southwest Airlines Authorize Strike Action

(CTN News) – The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) represents approximately 10,000 pilots who have voted emphatically in favour of authorizing a strike following the failure of negotiations with the airline on an updated contract that has been in place for some time.

After a week and a half of voting, SWAPA said on 11 May that the vote had closed with 98% pilots participating, 99% of whom opted to authorise a possible strike, after a week and a half of voting.

As a result, SWAPA’s negotiating committee chair Jody Reven has submitted a petition to the National Mediation Board to request the release of the union to self-help as soon as possible.

According to SWAPA, “we will follow the process laid out by the Railway Labor Act and proceed to a strike in accordance with the law.” “We wish to convey to our passengers that we take this issue seriously.”

As a result of the strike authorisation vote, Southwest Airlines has stated that its pilots are not on strike. Southwest Airlines has also stated that the vote result does not affect its scheduled operations.

According to the airline, it still expects mediation to result in a new contract for its flight deck crews and for the negotiations not to impede its summer schedule.

In good faith, our negotiating team continues to work towards a new agreement to reward our pilots, according to Adam Carlisle, vice-president of labour relations at Southwest Airlines.

Despite the anticipated outcome of the authorization vote, we remain committed to the negotiation process, and we look forward to continuing discussions with SWAPA at the negotiating table.

In recent months, pilots at other Southwest Airlines, including Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines, which are all represented by Air Line Pilots International (ALPA), have won lucrative new contracts.

In recent weeks, Air Canada’s pilots, previously represented by the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA), voted to merge with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

The majority of pilots with Canadian start-up carrier Lynx Air also voted to join the world’s largest pilot union on 7 May.

With a potential strike looming, SWAPA states that its pilots “have already raised their voices about the operational disasters and the lack of progress after three years of stagnant negotiations”.

Casey Murray, President of SWAPA, says we have reached this point due to a lack of leadership and a refusal to address the organization’s failures.

We are tired of our pilots apologizing to our passengers on behalf of a company that refuses to place priority on internal and external customers.”

Southwest Airlines reported a $159 million loss in the first quarter of 2023 and company-record $5.7 billion in quarterly revenues.

 For the first three months of the year, the airline incurred expenses of nearly $6 billion, including $380 million in connection with its total operational meltdown during the peak of holiday travel in December 2022.

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