Customer service workers at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines rejected the company’s latest proposal for a new contract.
The 6,100 workers are represented by District Lodge 142 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
On May 7, the union announced, “Our members have spoken and the contract was rejected with an overwhelming majority vote to authorize the union to strike.”
The strike vote is largely symbolic. Airline employees cannot legally engage in a work stoppage without prior approval from the National Mediation Board. Nevertheless, the rejection of the contract caught Southwest executives and union leaders off guard.
According to The Dallas Morning News, the union’s local president, John Coveny, said union members responded positively when the proposed contract was revealed in March.
More recent reporting claims union officials will survey their members to find out why they rejected the deal.
Addressing Southwest’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, May 18, CEO Bob Jordan said, “We want to pay our employees well. We want contracts for our employees. It’s obviously a negotiation. There are two sides to this and it’s a process, but our desire is to compensate them. They are terrific. They do a terrific job.”
The company’s proposal included a 15.5% pay raise with 6.5% upfront and the remainder spread out over three years, $1,000 to $3,000 signing bonuses, and caps on mandatory overtime.
This is the second time District Lodge 142 has rejected a Southwest contract since October 2021.
Airline industry analyst Robert Mann told The Dallas Morning News he thinks inflation may have turned workers against the proposal.
“Some of these expectations for a new contract may be the kinds of expectations they had back in 2018 or 2019. But now things have changed and it may be driven by inflation, where a 6% raise now and 3% next year might not seem like much because no one expects inflation to be that low in a year,” said Mann.
In addition to the customer service workers, pilots and flight attendants are also in the middle of contract negotiations with Southwest.