Fly4FunAA

After the complete winter meltdown that we have been having, when will we decide to actually threaten to strike? SWA has become so embarrassing that I think a strike from all employees is necessary at this point. We need to fire all of management and get a fresh start. The operation is beyond ridiculous at this point.

Lewbronski

I'm not sure to what degree you're intending to be hyperbolic, but "a strike from all employees" isn't something that is legally possible right now at SWA. I'm not certain how many of our employee groups are even in negotiations at the moment, let alone in mediation, which is a necessary prequisite for the credible threat of a strike to even begin to become possible sometime down the road under the RLA.

Employee groups can't legally just walk off the job in response to an event or series of events. The proven surest way to strip a union of leverage at the bargaining table is for it's members to engage in an illegal job action by doing something like you possibly seem to be proposing.

Take the case of the ABX pilots. In 2016, they engaged in what the the court determined was an illegal job action. They ended up spending 2,342 days in mediation before settling their contract in 2021. The average number of days spent in mediation of NMB dispute cases closed from 2017 through 2022? 611, or 562 if adjusted for the pause in negotiations during the pandemic. An illegal job action gives a mediator lots of ammunition to keep a case in mediation far beyond the average length of time in mediation.

Employee unions have to methodically walk down the RLA path if they want to be able to wave the strength of the strongest economic weapon available to labor in the face of management. They can't go wildcat.

If they're able to exhibit the patience to play the RLA game as it's required to be played, though, and not balk as their leverage is just beginning to ramp up the way that the Alaska and Delta pilots balked over the last few months, the amount of pressure that can be brought to bear on management can exceed by orders of magnitude the pressure created by any other tool available to them.

Fly4FunAA

I appreciate the response Lew…while I don’t mean literally everyone strike it’s more of a mindset. In order to make change we have to be willing to walk. Look at Delta…their pilot group did it. Enough is enough.

Mozam

Right around Spring Break or Summer would be perfect for a SAV. SWA cannot afforded another black eye . This Christmas meltdown is going to really hurt WN when the truth gets out .

WHACKMASTER

Let’s hope so. There needs to be a major shake up in management. Of course, I give that slim to none odds as I’ve been witnessing the “We’re the best and do everything the best” mindset for over a decade now. Sorry, but that’s not changing.

Tankerhead

Southwest exceptionalism. Yeah right.

Zard

Our meltdowns are the biggest and the best. Everyone agrees. Yugely successful at failing epically.

Lewbronski

The Delta pilot group did it right, IMO, up until they agreed to an AIP that was far short of the "generational" improvement that had been rumored. They folfded just as their leverage was beginning to accelerate.

A SAV isn't the end of the RLA path (just for clarification, a SAV is required by the SWAPA Constitution, not by the RLA, before going on strike). A SAV ratchets up the pressure on management by helping to establish the credibility of the strike threat posed by a work group. But there's far more pressure available to labor under the RLA beyond a successful SAV.

Pressure on management increases even more as a release from mediation becomes realistic because of what management knows is coming if the dispute is released from mediation.. Following a release from mediation, pressure on management dramatically amps up as passengers begin booking away from an airline that might soon go on strike. Then, in the extremely unlikely event that management is foolish enough to allow a dispute to go all the way to a strike, the pressure upon them goes stratospheric as they contend with losing more than $60 million dollars per day in revenue, not to mention the intangible hit to the value of the "luv" brand that would compound each day they allowed a strike to drag on.

In broad terms, we'd be foolish to ratify what management offers after a SAV but before the pressure on them truly starts revving up unless a TA satisfies every single one of our demands and then some.

Fly4FunAA

I don’t disagree…honestly after this meltdown it’s more leverage if we use it correctly. And we can also draw in potential public support since a lot of passengers felt the sting of SWA incompetent management this Christmas. If SWAPA is wise they could really capitalize on this situation going forward.

hoover

Maybe a SAV now while everyone is ****ed off? I know after that mess I went through there is probably nothing I'd vote yes for now..
and it would show the public it wasnt us when mgmt uses suck calls and unwillingness to work overtime next week as an excuse.