Is WN headed toward labor trouble?
Nov 16, 2014, 12:22 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,970
Is WN headed toward labor trouble?
I was on an airport parking shuttle leaving a big WN hub airport Friday night. A few WN employees were on it - 1 FA + a few ground service people. They were behaving as if no one else was present. So I don't feel I was eavesdropping.
Some of the interesting things I heard...
The ramp guys worked from 5 AM to about 8 PM. It sounded like they do this routinely and they do everything from baggage to pushing planes. Boy those hours are long. Do they do this 5 days a week of they do 3 on how many off?
The FA was saying that the planes are full full - long haul, short haul, all full! It is hard to get nonrev seats crossing the country. She said she loved the 738s but there are just too many people in it. She said flights were pretty empty the week of 11/3 for some reason - 30 people in a long haul flight, for example.
Then they started discussing some bonus vs. pay raise issue. It sounded like 1 unions was voting and they hope that union would not approve it as it is not a good deal..I thought WN is just one happy family but I guess things are not that simple.
Some of the interesting things I heard...
The ramp guys worked from 5 AM to about 8 PM. It sounded like they do this routinely and they do everything from baggage to pushing planes. Boy those hours are long. Do they do this 5 days a week of they do 3 on how many off?
The FA was saying that the planes are full full - long haul, short haul, all full! It is hard to get nonrev seats crossing the country. She said she loved the 738s but there are just too many people in it. She said flights were pretty empty the week of 11/3 for some reason - 30 people in a long haul flight, for example.
Then they started discussing some bonus vs. pay raise issue. It sounded like 1 unions was voting and they hope that union would not approve it as it is not a good deal..I thought WN is just one happy family but I guess things are not that simple.
Nov 16, 2014, 11:44 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: ONT
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Nov 16, 2014, 4:25 pm
#6
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: LAS
Posts: 1,525
I was on an airport parking shuttle leaving a big WN hub airport Friday night. A few WN employees were on it - 1 FA + a few ground service people. They were behaving as if no one else was present. So I don't feel I was eavesdropping.
Some of the interesting things I heard...
The ramp guys worked from 5 AM to about 8 PM. It sounded like they do this routinely and they do everything from baggage to pushing planes. Boy those hours are long. Do they do this 5 days a week of they do 3 on how many off?
The FA was saying that the planes are full full - long haul, short haul, all full! It is hard to get nonrev seats crossing the country. She said she loved the 738s but there are just too many people in it. She said flights were pretty empty the week of 11/3 for some reason - 30 people in a long haul flight, for example.
Then they started discussing some bonus vs. pay raise issue. It sounded like 1 unions was voting and they hope that union would not approve it as it is not a good deal..I thought WN is just one happy family but I guess things are not that simple.
Some of the interesting things I heard...
The ramp guys worked from 5 AM to about 8 PM. It sounded like they do this routinely and they do everything from baggage to pushing planes. Boy those hours are long. Do they do this 5 days a week of they do 3 on how many off?
The FA was saying that the planes are full full - long haul, short haul, all full! It is hard to get nonrev seats crossing the country. She said she loved the 738s but there are just too many people in it. She said flights were pretty empty the week of 11/3 for some reason - 30 people in a long haul flight, for example.
Then they started discussing some bonus vs. pay raise issue. It sounded like 1 unions was voting and they hope that union would not approve it as it is not a good deal..I thought WN is just one happy family but I guess things are not that simple.
Nov 16, 2014, 4:49 pm
#7
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: MCI
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A lot of rampers volunteer for those shifts and get paid overtime or trade with others to work double shifts and then get a day off. Nothing new there. The flight attendant was talking out of both sides of her mouth...are the planes full or are they empty (week of 11/3). There are workers in every line of work that complain in public. That isn't necessarily the norm for all SWA employees.
Nothing to see here.
Nov 16, 2014, 7:24 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 5,813
The issue of increased "unpaid" prep, loading and unloading time was mentioned by the head of the FAs union in an interview.
Nov 16, 2014, 7:53 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Nov 16, 2014, 8:30 pm
#10
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
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Nov 16, 2014, 9:18 pm
#11
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 5,813
All of the employees know about the financial results, feel they are responsible for them and think they deserve a raise.
Pretty much every employee group is working under an ammendable contract and have been for a long time.
Add in a big group of former Airtran employees and you have potential for labor trouble.
Pretty much every employee group is working under an ammendable contract and have been for a long time.
Add in a big group of former Airtran employees and you have potential for labor trouble.
Nov 17, 2014, 5:20 am
#12
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: USA
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As for loading/unloading... nothing to complain about there, WN has the fastest loading in the business.
Nov 17, 2014, 7:13 am
#13
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