Southwest – Unions push back

On Friday (Oct. 9), Southwest proposed a 10% pay rate cut to its roughly 9,000 pilots but the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association took issue with the across-the-board reduction and force majeure clauses, which could lead to furloughing pilots in any case. The union wants other options like voluntary time off at reduced pay and early retirement packages to come first. “We have a revenue and short-term cash problem that cannot be fixed by concessions alone,” the union said in a memo on Friday. Its president, Jon Weaks, told CNBC that the company’s proposal is “dead on arrival” but that the