Southwest Airlines' pilots, mechanics unions call for ouster of company's CEO

DALLAS-Leaders of Southwest Airlines' pilots and mechanics unions have called for the ouster of the Dallas-based company's CEO, Gary Kelly, and chief operating officer Mike Van de Ven in a vote of no confidence, the unions said Monday.
"As tenured employees and frontline leaders of this company, we can no longer sit idly by and watch poor decision after poor decision deeply affect our customers and Southwest Airlines," Jon Weaks, president of Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association, said in a written statement. "We believe that a change is needed for the best interests of Southwest Airlines and the loyal customers we serve."
Weaks pointed to what he called "years of operational deficiencies, unprecedented labor strife and continued culture erosion" at Southwest as reasons for the no-confidence vote.
Weaks and Louie Key, national director of Southwest's mechanics union, also criticized the company for the July 20 technical outage that led to the cancellation of 2,300 flights and caused widespread disruption for flight crews and employees over several days.
Key, national director of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, called the technology failure "the last straw."
"The current leadership has dragged out our contract negotiations for nearly four years, eroded the company culture that employees hold dear, and continued to put Band-Aids on its operational systems rather than invest in company upgrades," Key said in a statement.
Southwest downplayed the no-confidence vote as a negotiating tactic and said the company is regularly recognized for its financial, operational and customer service performance.
"This latest move by the new leaders of the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association is designed to pressure the company to meet its demands," Randy Babbitt, Southwest's vice president of labor relations, said in a statement. "Their maneuvering is not about our leaders. It's not about 'IT infrastructure.' This is about the union's approach to contract discussions and its attempt to gain leverage in negotiations."
The no-confidence vote comes at a time of record profitability for Southwest-the company earned $820 million in the second quarter of 2016-that has coincided with prolonged and increasingly contentious labor negotiations with several of its largest unions.
Pilots, mechanics and flight attendants have been negotiating new contract terms for nearly four years, with few recent signs
of progress.
In addition to pay increases and changes to retirement benefits, the unions and Southwest have been at a stalemate over contract language that affects job duties and protections.
Under federal law, unionized airline employees are prohibited from going on strike in all but the most extreme circumstances and only after an exhaustive process of negotiation and mediation.
Without the option of a strike, Southwest's unions are limited to things like pickets, a protest method they've employed at least four this year.
The no-confidence vote, which a pilots union spokesman said is the first in the organization's history, is the latest escalation in the ongoing labor battle