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DALLAS (AP) — Pilots at Southwest Airlines have overwhelmingly approved a new contract that will raise their pay rates by nearly 50% by 2028, becoming the last group of pilots at the nation’s four biggest airlines to score huge raises. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said Monday that the agreement covering pay and other issues for about 11,000 pilots was ratified by a 93% to 7% margin. Airline labor groups – and pilots in particular – have succeeded in negotiating pay raises over the past year as most U.S. have returned to solid profitability coming out of the pandemic. The Southwest agreement followed more than three years of bargaining. The contract calls for an immediate 29.15% increase in pay rates upon ratification, followed by 4% raises in 2025, 2026, and 2027 and a 3.25% increase in 2028.

Persons: ”, Casey Murray, Adam Carlisle Organizations: DALLAS, — Pilots, Southwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Pilots, Southwest Locations: Delta, United

☆ Southwest Airlines pilot pay would increase 50% under new labor contract
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-19 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Southwest Airlines and its pilots' union have reached a new preliminary labor agreement that would give pilots 50% cumulative pay increases over the life of the contract, a deal that could end years of tense negotiations. The five-year deal is worth about $12 billion, Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, told CNBC on Tuesday. In comparison, larger rival United Airlines ' new four-year pilot contract is worth about $10 billion, according to the aviators' union. Once the contract becomes amendable, Southwest pilots would get 2.5% annual bonuses until the airline and union reach a new agreement. FedEx pilots rejected an preliminary deal earlier this year, while UPS pilots' union is set to start negotiations in mid-2024.

Persons: Casey Murray Organizations: Southwest Airlines, Southwest, U.S, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, CNBC, United Airlines, United, Delta, FedEx, UPS, U.S . Department of Transportation, Labor, Hollywood, United Auto Workers union Locations: Southwest

Members of the United Auto Workers union hold a rally and practice picket near a Stellantis plant in Detroit, Aug. 23, 2023. Gallup reports 71% of Americans approved of labor unions in 2022 — the highest since 1965. United Airlines struck a preliminary agreement with its pilots union last month for up to 40% raises over four years. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said frequent reassignments can wear pilots down, just as they would passengers. "They need that predictability," he said, adding that the company has made some progress in talks with the pilots' union in recent weeks.

Persons: Michael Wayland, Robert Bruno, Mario Tama, Daniel, Chris, Wells, Shawn Fain, CNBC It's, Melissa Atkins, hadn't, Johnnie Kallas, Cornell's, Casey Murray, UIUC's Bruno, it's Organizations: United Auto Workers, CNBC, UPS, Workers, Boeing, Spirit, Guild of America, Labor, University of Illinois, Striking, Paramount Studios, Getty, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Screen, – American Federation of Television, Radio Artists, Writers Guild of America, U.S . Bureau of Labor Statistics, Gallup, General Motors, Ford Motor, UAW, Deere, CNH, Detroit, Teamsters Union, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, Netflix, Warner Bros ., WGA, SAG, Hollywood, Southwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, U.S, Teamsters Locations: Detroit, Amazon, University of Illinois Urbana, Champaign, Los Angeles, Hollywood

"That's what we are looking towards as we are working with our pilots union to get a deal done." American Airlines, United Airlines (UAL.O) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) are all in the middle of contract negotiations with their pilots. The carrier's pilot union said it made no concessions in the deal, which included dozens of work-rule improvements and quality-of-life related items. In an update to its members this week, United's pilot union said it is seeking similar improvements. Casey Murray, head of the Dallas-based airline's pilot union, said it has lost more pilots in the first four months of this year than it did in all of 2022.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) on Thursday faced harsh criticism from U.S. senators at a hearing investigating the airline's meltdown that disrupted travel plans for 2 million customers, with one lawmaker calling the situation an "unmitigated disaster." While Southwest cited weather impacts, the union singled out poor preparation and a failure to modernize technology. Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen called it an "unmitigated disaster" that had a "devastating impact on families." Watterson said it has received about 284,000 cases from passengers impacted by meltdown and reimbursed more than 273,000 -- leaving 10,782. Cantwell said Southwest Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan, who had been invited to the hearing, "didn't want to show up."

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) faced harsh criticism from U.S. senators at a hearing on Thursday investigating the airline's meltdown that disrupted travel plans for 2 million customers. The airline and its pilot union offered sharply contrasting reasons for the low-cost carrier's massive travel disruptions. While Southwest cited weather impacts, the union singled out poor preparation and a failure to modernize technology. Cantwell said Southwest Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan, who had been invited to the hearing, "didn't want to show up." The meltdown caused the cancellation of almost 17,000 flights and is estimated to have cost the airline more than $1 billion.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) faced harsh criticism from U.S. senators at a hearing on Thursday investigating the airline's meltdown that disrupted travel plans for 2 million customers. Senator Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, called the cancellation of more than 16,000 flights "an epic screwup." While Southwest cited weather impacts, the union singled out poor preparation and a failure to modernize technology. Cantwell said Southwest Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan, who had been invited to the hearing, "didn't want to show up." Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), said that the union has been sounding the alarm about the carrier's crew scheduling technology and "outdated" operational processes for years.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) and its pilot union will offer sharply contrasting reasons for the low-cost carrier's meltdown in December that disrupted travel plans for two million customers, ahead of a U.S. Senate committee hearing on Thursday. While Southwest has cited weather impacts, the union will single out poor preparation and a failure to modernize technology, according to written testimonies for the hearing, seen by Reuters. "What began as a weather event on December 21st turned into a crew scheduling event by December 24th," said Watterson. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) said the union has been sounding the alarm about the carrier's crew scheduling technology and "outdated" operational processes for years. The committee had asked Jordan to testify but Southwest said the hearing conflicted with other commitments, including an employee rally in Baltimore on Wednesday.

☆ Southwest explains its meltdown to Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Gregory Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN —Congress is set to receive new evidence Thursday of internal chaos at Southwest Airlines over the Christmas holiday meltdown. The Senate Commerce committee is set to question Southwest executive Andrew Watterson, alongside Southwest pilot union president Casey Murray, Sharon Pinkerton of the Airlines for America trade group, Paul Hudson of Flyers’ Rights, and economist Clifford Winston of The Brookings Institution. It’s a mess down here.”A photograph of the message, which shows the extent of the airline’s breakdown, is included in testimony the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association union, SWAPA, plans to present at the hearing. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan apologized and the airline offered reimbursements for passengers’ costs, along with bonus points. The union criticized the airline for giving executives stock options in the wake of the meltdown while employees lost profit sharing pay because of the airline’s financial hit due to the meltdown.

☆ Southwest faces Senate hearing over holiday travel chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Passengers check in for a Southwest Airlines Co. flight inside Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, on August 10, 2022. Southwest Airlines ' chief operations officer is scheduled to face questions from a Senate panel on Thursday over the carrier's December meltdown that stranded thousands of passengers over the holidays. Andrew Watterson plans to apologize for the travel chaos before the Senate Commerce Committee. The president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Casey Murray, will tell the panel that the carrier ignored warning signs about its operation, according to written testimony reviewed by CNBC. Core values were forgotten," Casey Murray said in written testimony ahead of Thursday's hearing.

☆ Southwest pilots detail the Christmas meltdown chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Gregory Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Congress is set to receive new evidence Thursday of internal chaos at Southwest Airlines over the Christmas holiday meltdown. It’s a mess down here.”A photograph of the message, which shows the extent of the airline’s breakdown, is included in testimony the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association union, SWAPA, plans to present at a Senate Commerce committee hearing. “No updates here,” another cockpit computer message to pilots read. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan apologized and the airline offered reimbursements for passengers’ costs, along with bonus points. The union criticized the airline for giving executives stock options in the wake of the meltdown while employees lost profit sharing pay because of the airline’s financial hit due to the meltdown.

☆ Southwest CEO Jordan finds himself in eye of storm after airline's holiday debacle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Rajesh Kumar Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

CHICAGO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines Co's (LUV.N) CEO, faces the biggest challenge yet in his 35-year career at the airline that has built a customer-friendly reputation. Southwest's struggles reached a notable low on Jan. 28 when comedy sketch TV show "Saturday Night Live" lampooned the Dallas-based airline's technology and service. The carrier will now answer to U.S. Congress on Thursday when Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee. In October, Jordan, who started his career at Southwest in 1988 as a computer programmer, put Watterson in charge of the airline's operations. Last week, Jordan also named a chief information officer who will help manage the airline's technology investments, upgrades and system maintenance.

☆ Southwest plans to tell Senate it's confident in its schedule after holiday meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Southwest Airlines plans to apologize before a Senate panel on Thursday over the carrier's December meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers around Christmas. "In hindsight, we did not have enough winter operational resilience," Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said in written testimony, which was reviewed by CNBC, ahead of Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The debacle made for an $800 million pretax hit and drove the carrier to a net loss last quarter. Watterson plans to tell the committee that the carrier has made short-term improvements to communicate more easily with crews when things go wrong and has improved tools that keep track of the operation's stability. With those mitigation tools, "we are confident in our flight network and the schedules we have published for sale," Watterson plans to say, according to the testimony.

☆ Southwest faces Senate hearing next week following holiday meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

John and Lori Ingoldsby, who drove to Denver after the first leg of their flight on Southwest Airlines was canceled, wait for a flight to finish their trip at Denver International Airport on December 28, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. Southwest Airlines ' chief operating officer, Andrew Watterson, will face questions from a Senate panel next Thursday about the carrier's holiday meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers. Southwest said the hearing date overlapped with "a previous commitment" for CEO Bob Jordan. The incident has drawn increased scrutiny from Washington and capped a year of on-and-off disruptions in air travel, due to bad weather, staffing and technology issues. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the committee chair, had previously said she planned to hold a hearing on flight disruptions following Southwest's holiday travel chaos.

☆ Southwest to testify at U.S. Senate hearing after meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson will testify on Feb. 9 before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee after a holiday meltdown forced the budget carrier to cancel thousands of flights. The hearing titled "Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections" will also include Southwest Airlines Pilots Association President Captain Casey Murray, Sharon Pinkerton, a senior official with Airlines for America, an industry group, and Paul Hudson, who heads Flyers' Rights, a passenger advocacy organization. The hearing will review causes and impacts of recent air travel disruptions including the Southwest December holiday operational woes that resulted in more than 16,000 flight cancellations. Southwest Chief Executive Bob Jordan has repeatedly apologized for the mass cancellations and said the carrier is looking at all options to prevent a repeat. The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) is investigating whether Southwest engaged in "unrealistic scheduling of flights" in December.

☆ Southwest Pilots to Vote on Whether to Authorize Union Leaders to Call for Strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Alison Sider | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Southwest Airlines Co. pilots plan to vote later this year on whether to authorize union leaders to call for a strike should they deem it necessary, as they become increasingly frustrated with what they say are stalled contract negotiations. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association union, told members Wednesday that the union plans to hold the vote starting May 1, citing what he said was a lack of progress years into talks with the airline.

☆ Southwest Airlines pilot union calls for strike authorization vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 18 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co's (LUV.N) pilot union has called for a strike authorization vote, weeks after a tech meltdown at the carrier left tens of thousands of passengers stranded across the United States. Casey Murray, president of Southwest Airlines Pilot Association (SWAPA), said in a statement. The strike authorization vote will take place beginning May 1 and will be counted at the end of that month, said SWAPA, which represents more than 10,000 pilots. Southwest pilots have been locked in talks over a new contract with the airline for nearly three years. Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Southwest pilots' union calls vote to authorize potential strike as contract talks sour
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Southwest Airlines pilots' union plans to hold a vote that could give it the power to call a potential strike, a move that comes weeks after the carrier's holiday meltdown further strained ties with its workers' unions. Southwest and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association have been in negotiations for a new contract for years. Union leaders have focused on better work rules and scheduling for Southwest workers. The union's president, Casey Murray, said it was the first time the union has held a strike authorization vote. "This decision is not one based on emotion, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't angry," Murray wrote to pilots.

☆ Premarket stocks: Wall Street's biggest winners and losers in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The S&P 500 is down nearly 20% and with two trading days left in the year, investors’ hopes of a miraculous recovery have been dashed. The energy sector has so far returned more than 60% this year, significantly outperforming every other S&P 500 sector. Occidental Petroleum has been the biggest gainer of the year in the S&P 500, up 122% year-to-date. The energy sector reported the highest year-over-year earnings growth of all 11 sectors, at 137.3%. Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) is also down about 70%, making the auto tech company the third worst performer this year.

CNN —A blast of severe winter weather last week caused thousands of Southwest Airlines flight cancellations and spiraled into a complete meltdown of its flight system. In October 2021, Southwest canceled more than 2,000 flights over a four-day period. While the airline blamed the crisis partly on bad weather in Florida, Southwest canceled flights for far longer than its competitors. Southwest’s scheduling system hasn’t changed much since the 1990s, according to Captain Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association. But Southwest has consistently failed to perform as well as its competitors when it comes to cancellations, according to bureau data.

☆ Transportation Department will be looking into Southwest flight cancellations, Buttigieg says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Phil-Helsel-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Phil Helsel | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Southwest canceled more than 2,800 flights Monday — the day after Christmas — and around 2,600 Tuesday, according to tracking website FlightAware. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said Southwest had not adequately prepared flights for the storm. Travelers wait in line near the Southwest Airlines ticketing counter at Nashville International Airport, in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday. Buttigieg said Southwest has pledged to take care of impacted customers, and that the Transportation Department will be holding the airline accountable for that. Another 2,478 Southwest flights scheduled for Wednesday have also been cancelled, according to FlightAware.

☆ Analysis: Southwest got billions of dollars in taxpayer aid. Why is its service still a mess?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Southwest Airlines received more than $7 billion from that program. However, analysts say, Southwest’s service meltdown is unrelated to the taxpayer assistance the airline received in 2020. Cancelled Southwest Airlines flights are seen on the flight schedules at LaGuardia Airport, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022, in New York. In April 2020, airline passenger traffic plummeted 96% and stayed 60% below 2019 levels in 2020, according to the US Government Accountability Office. “The problems at Southwest Airlines over the last several days go beyond weather,” she said in a statement.

At a news conference in Houston, Southwest spokesman Jay McVay said cancellations snowballed as storm systems moved across the country, leaving flight crews and planes out of place. In normal times, this can allow Southwest to operate more flights over a given 24-hour period than other carriers, said Scott Meyerowitz, executive editor of The Points Guy travel site. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said Southwest had not adequately prepared flights for the storm, which hampered ground transportation and maintenance vehicles. Adding to the difficulty: Large swaths of Southwest crews remain in contract negotiations with the carrier. Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to questions about ongoing contract negotiations with its crews.

☆ Why Southwest is melting down
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

By Monday, air travel was more or less back to normal – unless you booked your holiday travel with Southwest Airlines. More than 90% of Tuesday’s US flight cancellations are Southwest, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Southwest warned that it would continue canceling flights until it could get its operations back on track. Similar to this month’s service mayhem, Southwest fared far worse than its competitors last October. While Southwest canceled hundreds of flights in the days following the peak of October’s disruption, competitors quickly returned to normal service.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan said the reinstatement reflects "the strong return in demand for air travel" as well as Southwest's "solid" operating and financial performance since March. While mounting economic worries have clouded the outlook for consumer spending, the Dallas-based carrier said it has seen no signs of a slowdown in travel demand. It expects strong leisure revenue trends to continue into the first quarter of next year. Southwest will pay a quarterly dividend of 18 cents per share to shareholders on Jan. 31. "With more than two-thirds of its labor contracts still open,...reinstating dividends just illustrates how far Southwest has veered from its path," said Southwest Airlines Pilots Association President Casey Murray.

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