Published: November 02, 2009 12:55 pm      

Southwest pilots approve new labor contract

DALLAS — Pilots for Southwest Airlines have approved a new 5-year labor contract that the union president said has smaller pay raises than his members wanted.

The union said Monday that the vote for ratification was about 87 percent, with about 93 percent of Southwest’s 5,900 pilots casting a ballot.

The new contract includes retroactive pay raises of 2 percent for 2007 and 2008, plus 2 percent in 2011, the union said. Raises for 2009 and 2010 will be based on Southwest’s profitability — so far, the airline is losing money this year.

The contract also boosted retirement contributions and added more job protections, the union said.

The deal is the result of three years of bargaining between the nation’s largest discount airline and the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said the contract rewarded pilots for helping the company earn a profit the past two years. But, he said, the deal was also “in keeping with the current uncertain economic outlook.”

Southwest and other airlines are fighting a downturn in travel, especially among high-fare business customers. The Dallas-based airline is in danger of posting its first annual loss since 1972.

Union president Carl Kuwitzky said that while his group “never considered this a home-run contract, our members felt it contained enough positive gains in a short-term deal to constitute ratification.”

The pilots narrowly rejected a company proposal in June. Kuwitzky said union negotiators went back to the table to address areas that pilots felt were lacking.

The union said the final deal provided for more scheduling flexibility and job protections if Southwest strikes so-called code-sharing partnerships with other airlines.

In code-sharing deals, an airline can sell tickets on a partner carrier and get some of the revenue. Unions fear that the deals can be used to shift work to employees at lower-paying airlines.

Kuwitzky said the union would try to improve issues of “higher priority,” including pay, in future bargaining.

The Dallas-based airline and the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association have been in negotiations since the contract became open for change in September 2006.