Southwest Airlines ramp workers picket at Dallas Love Field over slow contract talks
UPDATE, 6:45 p.m. with additional comments from TWU, Southwest Airlines:
Several dozen Southwest Airlines ramp workers picketed at the entrance to Dallas Love Field as they lamented the glacial progress of contract talks with the Dallas airline.
Charles Cerf, president of Transport Workers Union Local 555 which represents about 10,000 Southwest employees, said the talks have made essentially no progress since the last time Local 555 members picketed at Love Field in March 2013.
He did say that the issue of hiring temporary workers was “off the table.” However, Southwest wants to hire up to 30 percent of its ramp workers as part-time employees, Cerf said.
But the two sides remain far apart of many issues, he said.
The National Mediation Board became involved in the talks in September 2012. But in July, Cerf said, the federal agency suspended its participation. Asked if that meant the NMB had decided that its participation would no longer be useful because the two sides were making so little progress, Cerf agreed with that interpretation of events.
“The mediator felt like neither side was moving and is no longer attending the talks,” Cerf said. “We had talks in November, two-day sessions, and the mediator wasn’t present.”
“That’s disappointing that we’re so far apart. We want some reasonable raises. We have some members that haven’t had raises in nearly five years. They’re losing money. Their buying power is not what it was five years ago,” Cerf said.
“That’s not like Southwest of old. It may be the new Southwest. No employees should be treated that way when profits are so big and they’re making profits every year.”
Cerf acknowledged that ramp workers at the top of their pay scale (by years of service) are paid more than their counterparts at American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. However, those Southwest workers have gone without pay raises for five years, despite Southwest’s record profits.
Another union representative said that 41 had signed in for the picketing as of 10:45 a.m. As they go to work at their Southwest jobs, they’ll be replaced by other Local 555 employees who have ended their shifts. She said the union expects about 100 to participate in the demonstration, at the corner of Herb Kelleher Way/Cedar Springs Road and Mockingbird Lane.
Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King confirmed that the mediator had concluded that the talks were unproductive and that “more meetings would not be helpful in the near term.” She added:
“Rest assured, we want to secure a contract now. We’ve made multiple offers that have gone unaccepted or ignored. Our proposals would put more money in employees’ pockets, improving compensation on an individual basis by thousands of dollars per year.
“In exchange for increased compensation, the company is seeking more operational flexibility in a manner that safeguards employees from negative impacts in a competitive industry – helping preserve and add more jobs in the future,” she said. “it is a ‘give and take’ that defines what true negotiations are all about.
“While we are waiting to reach an agreement, we continue to reward our employees for their hard work. We are proud to say that southwest ramp, operations, provisioning, and cargo agents remain some of the highest paid in the industry. Since the last contract was signed, senior employees represented by TWU 555 enjoy pay rates that are approximately 8 to 48 percent higher than those at other airlines. Our more junior agents continue to receive generous step increases, as well as general rate increases.”
