DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Like Southwest Airlines continues to clean up the mess left behind by the Christmas travel fiasco, the carrier faces a new challenge – a potential pilot strike.
The Southwest Airlines pilots union called for a strike vote on Wednesday.
“This is not about the pilots as much as it is about the spirit of Southwest Airlines,” said Capt. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA). “It’s about delivering what our mandate is, which is safe and reliable transportation, and reliability doesn’t exist today, and our customers deserve better. Our employees deserve better.”
More than 10,000 pilots represented by the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association will begin voting on May 1 on whether to authorize a strike.
The union has been in negotiations with the airline for a new contract for more than three years and it appears things have stalled.
Southwest pilots picketed last summercalling for better planning and technological updates, but this is the first time SWAPA has ever called for strike authorization.
The historic action comes in the wake of the airline’s Christmas week disaster. Murray hopes it’s a wake-up call for Southwest Airlines.
“We work hard and we want to make sure these inefficiencies are not the norm and they cannot be the norm for the continued survival of Southwest Airlines,” Murray said.
To prevent another meltdown, the company has budgeted more than a billion dollars to upgrade its aging computer systems.
Murray says the airline’s problems run much deeper.
“How pilots and flight attendants are using it,” he said. “How they’re connecting pilots to airplanes. That’s where they’re failing. You can spend a billion dollars on IT, but if the processes are the same, you’re going to get the same result.”
SWAPA pilot votes will be counted at the end of May. If they approve the strike, it will still need permission from federal labor officials, which could take months.
Meanwhile, customers are hoping the airline can reach an agreement with the pilots’ union.
“We’re loyal and we’re going to stay there,” said Casey Graves, a Southwest Airlines passenger. “If things happen, they happen and we have to make last minute changes – we will.”
Adam Carlisle, VP of Labor Relations at Southwest Airlines, issued this statement authorizing the strike:
“The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association’s call for an authorization vote does not affect the operation of Southwest or our ability to take care of our customers. We will continue to follow the process outlined in the Railroad Labor Act and work, under the help of the National Mediation Board, towards reaching an agreement that rewards our pilots and places them competitively in the industry.
“The potential union vote does not detract from our continued efforts at the bargaining table. We are scheduled to resume mediation on January 24.”
Caroline Vandergriff
