Southwest declares operations 'emergency' amid labor dispute with mechanics
Feb 20, 2019, 5:31 am
#17
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,329
This standoff smells like it’s going to escalate, unfortunately:
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...ches-fifth-day
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...ches-fifth-day
Feb 20, 2019, 7:51 am
#18
Join Date: May 2006
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This standoff smells like it’s going to escalate, unfortunately:
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...ches-fifth-day
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...ches-fifth-day
Has anyone here had a personal experience with delayed flights or cancellations this week?
Feb 20, 2019, 10:50 am
#19
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: STL
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Yep, I did last night trying to get home. Ended up delayed and then further delayed with an aircraft/gate swap. Once on the plane, the first overhead bid was taped (securely) shut due to faulty latches, and a mechanic came on board to apparently re-tape it. Once he was done taking about five minutes to replace two pieces of tape, he took a further 15 minutes to show back up with paperwork for tape. The pilots were less than pleased, as we were already behind schedule.
Feb 20, 2019, 11:31 am
#20
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Union contracts have been going past their amendable dates at Southwest for a long, long time. (See the annual reports. I went back to 2002.) If you mean employees being willing to trash the company's reputation to get what they want, yes, that seems new.
Feb 20, 2019, 12:17 pm
#22
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Yep, I did last night trying to get home. Ended up delayed and then further delayed with an aircraft/gate swap. Once on the plane, the first overhead bid was taped (securely) shut due to faulty latches, and a mechanic came on board to apparently re-tape it. Once he was done taking about five minutes to replace two pieces of tape, he took a further 15 minutes to show back up with paperwork for tape. The pilots were less than pleased, as we were already behind schedule.
Feb 20, 2019, 12:31 pm
#23
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,502
Southwest blames recent cancellations on weather, mechanical issues - Story | KDFW
Feb 20, 2019, 1:01 pm
#24
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Statement from Southwest Airlines
https://www.swamedia.com/releases/re...ike-van-de-ven
Statement from Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer, Mike Van de Ven
Feb 19, 2019
Southwest has been negotiating with Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which represents our nearly 2,400 mechanics, for more than six years. We are extremely proud of our Mechanics, which is why we were glad to offer them a tentative agreement with an industry-leading pay package last fall that our Mechanics did not approve. We are anxious to reward them, we have been actively engaged in ongoing mediated negotiations since then and we have enhanced our previous contract offer.
On Feb. 12, just days after our last negotiations session with AMFA, we experienced an unprecedented number of out-of-service aircraft in four specific maintenance locations despite no change in our maintenance programs, no changes in leadership, and no changes in our policies and procedures. We are committed to operating a safe fleet, and every report is investigated, which is why we issued a notice to require an "all hands" response to get out-of-service aircraft back into the fleet serving our Customers.
Statement from Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer, Mike Van de Ven
Feb 19, 2019
Southwest has been negotiating with Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which represents our nearly 2,400 mechanics, for more than six years. We are extremely proud of our Mechanics, which is why we were glad to offer them a tentative agreement with an industry-leading pay package last fall that our Mechanics did not approve. We are anxious to reward them, we have been actively engaged in ongoing mediated negotiations since then and we have enhanced our previous contract offer.
On Feb. 12, just days after our last negotiations session with AMFA, we experienced an unprecedented number of out-of-service aircraft in four specific maintenance locations despite no change in our maintenance programs, no changes in leadership, and no changes in our policies and procedures. We are committed to operating a safe fleet, and every report is investigated, which is why we issued a notice to require an "all hands" response to get out-of-service aircraft back into the fleet serving our Customers.
- The out-of-service aircraft were driven primarily from four of our 20 maintenance locations and by a subset of our entire mechanic workforce.
- The number of aircraft out of the fleet has driven cancellations, in some cases extremely long delays and other operational impacts over the last week.
- Southwest utilizes a regular team of approved third-party vendors to help with our ongoing maintenance program. Currently, we are assigning as much scheduled maintenance program work to those providers as possible which allows our Southwest mechanics to work the increased workload of maintenance tasks they have identified.
Feb 20, 2019, 1:12 pm
#25
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,028
Fox4 Dallas aircheck and transcript don’t match that.
Southwest blames recent cancellations on weather, mechanical issues - Story KDFW
Feb 20, 2019, 1:47 pm
#26
Join Date: Oct 2010
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https://www.swamedia.com/releases/re...ike-van-de-ven
Statement from Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer, Mike Van de Ven
Feb 19, 2019
Southwest has been negotiating with Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which represents our nearly 2,400 mechanics, for more than six years. We are extremely proud of our Mechanics, which is why we were glad to offer them a tentative agreement with an industry-leading pay package last fall that our Mechanics did not approve. We are anxious to reward them, we have been actively engaged in ongoing mediated negotiations since then and we have enhanced our previous contract offer.
On Feb. 12, just days after our last negotiations session with AMFA, we experienced an unprecedented number of out-of-service aircraft in four specific maintenance locations despite no change in our maintenance programs, no changes in leadership, and no changes in our policies and procedures. We are committed to operating a safe fleet, and every report is investigated, which is why we issued a notice to require an "all hands" response to get out-of-service aircraft back into the fleet serving our Customers.
Statement from Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer, Mike Van de Ven
Feb 19, 2019
Southwest has been negotiating with Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which represents our nearly 2,400 mechanics, for more than six years. We are extremely proud of our Mechanics, which is why we were glad to offer them a tentative agreement with an industry-leading pay package last fall that our Mechanics did not approve. We are anxious to reward them, we have been actively engaged in ongoing mediated negotiations since then and we have enhanced our previous contract offer.
On Feb. 12, just days after our last negotiations session with AMFA, we experienced an unprecedented number of out-of-service aircraft in four specific maintenance locations despite no change in our maintenance programs, no changes in leadership, and no changes in our policies and procedures. We are committed to operating a safe fleet, and every report is investigated, which is why we issued a notice to require an "all hands" response to get out-of-service aircraft back into the fleet serving our Customers.
- The out-of-service aircraft were driven primarily from four of our 20 maintenance locations and by a subset of our entire mechanic workforce.
- The number of aircraft out of the fleet has driven cancellations, in some cases extremely long delays and other operational impacts over the last week.
- Southwest utilizes a regular team of approved third-party vendors to help with our ongoing maintenance program. Currently, we are assigning as much scheduled maintenance program work to those providers as possible which allows our Southwest mechanics to work the increased workload of maintenance tasks they have identified.
While I don't have access to the entire report, it appears FAs are concerned about maintenance https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/...ts-safety.html, could not find anything from the Pilots Union.
Feb 20, 2019, 6:15 pm
#27
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Feb 20, 2019, 11:16 pm
#28
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Feb 23, 2019, 4:10 pm
#30
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,286
The Motley Fool:
Southwest Airlines' desire to keep costs down is understandable. But the difference between the terms it is offering and what its mechanics would accept appears to be quite small compared to the airline's total earnings.
Thus, Southwest Airlines' negotiating strategy appears to be pennywise but pound-foolish. The company needs to prioritize protecting its reputation and its business plans -- and that means finalizing a generous contract for its mechanics as soon as possible.
Southwest Airlines Needs to Make Peace With Its Mechanics ASAP
Southwest Airlines' desire to keep costs down is understandable. But the difference between the terms it is offering and what its mechanics would accept appears to be quite small compared to the airline's total earnings.
Thus, Southwest Airlines' negotiating strategy appears to be pennywise but pound-foolish. The company needs to prioritize protecting its reputation and its business plans -- and that means finalizing a generous contract for its mechanics as soon as possible.