By Alexandra Skores, Dallas Morning News, thanks to Frank Wright
Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants union and the Dallas-based carrier have a tentative agreement for a new contract. A membership ratification vote will begin November 15 with TWU Local 556, the union which represents the Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants.
The TWU Local 556 union’s executive board approved a tentative agreement for its 19,000 members for a ratification vote to begin Nov. 15. The union’s previous contract was effective until October 2018, but COVID-19 put a pause on negotiations in 2020. More details about the agreement will be available after November 1, according to TWU Local 556.
The annual mean wage for flight attendants in Dallas-Fort Worth was $64,160 as of May 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Southwest flight attendants’ annual pay averaged $65,291 in 2020, the latest data available in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s airline tracking project.
In June, the executive board of the flight attendant union voted down a tentative contract, leaving the airline and union in mediation until an agreement was ratified. The union had pushed for improvements such as boarding pay and compensation during trips that are extended by delays. Still left at the bargaining table are Southwest’s pilots in mediation and the carrier’s ramp, operations, provisioning and cargo agents in direct negotiations.
Flight attendants at Fort Worth-based American Airlines said this week the board of directors of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union that represents American’s 26,000 flight attendants, will meet on Nov. 17 to approve a request from the union’s negotiating committee. American recently wrapped up a contract with its pilots and passenger service agents at American are still in negotiations with the carrier.