Skift Take
Labor discontent is rife in the skies over the U.S.
Flight attendants at Southwest Airlines overwhelmingly rejected a new contract over the weekend. The move is the latest in the mounting tensions between cabin crew and U.S. airline management that could result in the industry's first labor action in more than a decade.
The agreement that Southwest's nearly 19,000 flight attendants rejected included pay increases of 36% over five years and other quality of life improvements. The offer clearly was not enough: 64% of those who voted rejected the agreement.
"The flight attendants of Southwest Airlines have made it clear that this proposed contract is not going to heal the hurt," said Lyn Montgomery, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 556 that represents the crew members. "We will go back to the table to achieve the collective bargaining agreement that meets the needs of the hardest-working flight attendants in the industry."
The union declined to comment further.
One area of disagreement concerns boarding pay. Almost all U.S. flight attendants are paid only when an aircraft door is closed, rather than during the boarding and deplaning process. Delta Air Lines is the sole U.S. carrier that pays cabin crew for boarding, a policy it added last year amid a drive to unionize (the airline's cabin crew is currently not unionized).
Cabin crew unions at Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines are all in active contrac