Southwest, mechanics union quarrel over grounded planes

In this Jan. 25, 2019, file photo a Southwest Airlines jet moves on the runway as a person eats at a terminal restaurant at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Southwest Airlines is lashing out at the union representing its mechanics and suggesting that workers are purposely grounding planes to gain leverage in negotiations over a new contract. Southwest had canceled more than 400 flights, 10 percent of its schedule, by midmorning Wednesday, Feb. 20. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
In this Jan. 25, 2019, file photo a Southwest Airlines jet moves on the runway as a person eats at a terminal restaurant at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Southwest Airlines is lashing out at the union representing its mechanics and suggesting that workers are purposely grounding planes to gain leverage in negotiations over a new contract. Southwest had canceled more than 400 flights, 10 percent of its schedule, by midmorning Wednesday, Feb. 20. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines is lashing out at the union representing its mechanics, suggesting the workers are purposely grounding planes in order to gain leverage in new contract negotiations.

Separately, Southwest said Wednesday that the partial shutdown of the federal government will cost it $60 million in lost revenue during the first quarter -- far more than the airline's previous estimate of $10 million to $15 million.

Southwest said it has continued to see softer bookings that it blames on the shutdown, which ended officially on Jan. 25. The earlier estimate covered the period through Jan. 23.

Delta Air Lines stood by a January estimate that it figures to lose $25 million in revenue from the shutdown. Other carriers have not provided estimates.

Southwest shares tumbled $3.26, or 5.7 percent, in New York trading Wednesday.

On the labor front, Southwest is fighting the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents nearly 2,400 Southwest mechanics.

Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said Southwest saw an increase in aircraft being declared out of service on Feb. 12, "just days after our last negotiations session with AMFA." The surge, concentrated at a few maintenance shops, occurred even though there were no changes in the maintenance programs, he said.

The airline issued an emergency order Friday that requires mechanics to get doctor's notes if they call in sick and gives Southwest the power to impose mandatory overtime. Mechanics who don't comply could be fired.

The carrier on Tuesday added its Dallas maintenance center to those in Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Orlando, Fla., that originally were covered by the alert.

Still, delays and cancellations from grounded planes have persisted.

On Wednesday, Southwest had canceled about 435 flights -- 11 percent of its schedule -- by early afternoon, according to FlightAware. The carrier has about 750 Boeing Co. 737 aircraft and makes nearly 4,000 flights per day.

It wasn't clear how many of the canceled flights were related to maintenance and how many were caused by winter weather that disrupted air travel in the East. Southwest canceled 200 flights Tuesday when weather was not a big factor.

Van de Ven said that "AMFA has a history of work disruptions" -- Southwest has two pending lawsuits against the union -- and that the airline is considering all options to fix its operation.

The union countered that Southwest is "scapegoating" mechanics, and it warned that the conflict "does not bode well" for safety at one of the nation's biggest airlines.

"For Southwest's leadership to connect the airline's self-declared 'operational emergency' to collective bargaining negotiations is simply an attempt to divert attention away from the airline's safety issues," the union said in an unsigned statement.

The union accuses Southwest of pressuring mechanics to approve planes for service too quickly because planes that are grounded do not make money for the airline.

"That should be alarming to everybody, including management," Bret Oestreich, the union's national director, said recently.

In 2017, Southwest accused the union of encouraging members to refuse overtime assignments in order to pressure the company in contract talks. A lawsuit filed by the airline was suspended in 2018 after an initial contract agreement was reached. The proposed contract later was rejected by union members.

Southwest's mechanics "are working the overtime demanded of them," the union said, "But Southwest Airlines has the fewest mechanics to aircraft of any major carrier. We will continue to do our job as expert craftsmen, for the safety of Southwest's passengers."

Southwest and the union have been in contract negotiations for more than six years. Union officials say the two sides remain far apart on pay and on Southwest's desire to keep performing some maintenance work in El Salvador. The union says Southwest has fewer mechanics per plane than other airlines, so its workers deserve to be paid more.

Southwest has run into other safety issues. The Federal Aviation Administration has spent a year investigating how Southwest calculates the weight of checked bags and makes sure loads are properly balanced in the cargo hold. Southwest said it reported the problem voluntarily and has made improvements.

Information for this article was contributed by David Koenig of The Associated Press and by Mary Schlangenstein of Bloomberg News.

Business on 02/21/2019

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