The executive board of Southwest Airlines’ flight attendant union voted down a tentative contract agreement previously struck between union members and the carrier during mediation.
TWU Local 556 represents 18,841 flight attendants and is one of two unions currently in federal mediation with the Dallas-based airline, which has closed eight union deals since last October.
A deal is still pending with the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association, which recently voted to authorize a strike, as The Dallas Express reported. Direct negotiations are also occurring between Southwest and its Transport Workers Union.
As The Dallas Express reported earlier this month, “an agreement in principle” had been reached between TWU Local 556 and Southwest. It had been the fruit of nearly 12 months of negotiations with the help of federal mediators.
Yet the draft contract agreement was ultimately unable to secure the necessary two-thirds endorsement from TWU Local 556’s executive board, as prescribed by the union’s regulations.
Both parties will remain in mediation until another agreement is ratified, with members of TWU Local 556 left without a contract since it expired in October 2018.
“This decision [not to ratify the agreement] is a direct reflection of flight attendants’ frustration,” said the union president Lyn Montgomery in a statement, according to The Dallas Morning News.
While Montgomery did not specify what problems the executive board had with the tentative agreement, the union has been asking for higher compensation, especially with regard to being paid when flights are boarding and in the event of delays.
Although not all the details of the failed contract agreement have been publicly disclosed, flight attendants would have received a 15% raise in pay plus boarding pay, according to the DMN. As of 2020, Southwest flight attendants made an average of $65,291 a year.
“We feel strongly this industry-leading agreement was worthy of being voted on by our flight attendants,” explained Adam Carlisle, Southwest’s vice president of labor relations, according to the DMN. “We will reset with our assigned federal mediators to determine how to establish next steps.”
Negotiations continue between Southwest and unions representing flight attendants, pilots, and ground crew at a time when domestic air travel is soon to pick up. Half of Americans recently polled by Deloitte Insights reported already having booked their summer vacation plans.
