The union which represents flight attendants at Southwest Airlines has reportedly approved a strike authorization vote after a controversial tentative agreement was rejected in a marred ballot that has since been voided because of potential fraud.
The executive board of the TWU 556 union is believed to have given the go-ahead for the strike authorization vote on Thursday after Southwest Airlines refused to make improvements to the tentative agreement outside of federally mediated negotiations.
The National Mediation Board (NMB), which organizes federal mediation under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, has, however, warned that with negotiations heating up at American Airlines, Alaska and United Airlines, it might not have any mediators available for some time.
Talk of an impending strike authorization vote is just the latest twist in a growing drama that has beset efforts by flight attendants at Southwest to secure a new contract.
After more than five years of protracted and, at times, difficult negotiations, the union said it had finally been able to thrash out a tentative agreement in late October for Southwest’s 19,000 flight attendants.
The agreement, which would have given flight attendants a 36% rise to hourly pay rates over the course of the five-year contract, was put to a vote and resoundingly rejected, with 64% of the union’s members voting down the proposed agreement.
Just days later, however, problems with the ballot emerged, and the third-party vendor who organized the ballot was accused of failing to keep the voting system secure after the union said it had discovered that the database that contained individual votes could be freely accessed and votes changed.
Lyn Montgomery, the president of the beleaguered union, says she plans to have rerun the ballot, although flight attendants have flagged a slew of gripes with the tentative agreement, and the union now wants Southwest to address these issues.
Earlier this week, Southwest finally reached a tentative labor deal with its pilots which is reported to be worth $12 billion over the course of the five-year contract. Pilots will get to vote on the proposed deal and the ballot is set to run until January 22, 2024.
On Tuesday, the union which represents flight attendants at Alaska Airlines said it would also hold a strike authorization vote after the Seattle-based carrier rejected its demands for big pay rises.
Alaska says it wants to reach a deal with the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) and has meetings with federal mediators set up in January and February 2024.
Neither Southwest nor the TWU 556 immediately responded to a request for comment.
