Southwest pilots threaten strike after Christmas flight cancellations

Southwest Airlines pilots are to vote on going on strike after a computer system failure and winter storms saw the carrier cancel almost 17,000 flights in late December. Casey Murray, president of the union representing the carrier’s pilots, announced the “historic action” on January 18. The call, the union said, came “in the wake of Southwest’s largest meltdown and the utter lack of meaningful progress on a contract negotiation, with scheduling work rules and information technology asks in particular, that has been ongoing for more than three years”. The vote is to take place on May 1, a workers’ holiday