America Airlines – What it means for Phoenix workers
| Arizona Republic
Southwest Airlines mentioned Thursday that it’s planning the first layoffs within the 49-year historical past of the corporate. Greater than 6,800 workers are anticipated to lose their jobs subsequent spring, barring an settlement with its unions or motion by Congress.
“The involuntary furloughs will happen on March 15 or April 1, relying upon the workgroup (or inside 14 days after that date), until Southwest reaches cost-saving agreements or the federal government enacts a passable Payroll Assist Program extension,” the airline mentioned in a press release supplied to The Arizona Republic.
The airline at present employs 4,138 folks at Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport, most of them in Inflight Providers, Floor Providers, Flight Operations and Buyer Service. It is unclear precisely how severely the deliberate layoffs would possibly have an effect on employees in Phoenix.
Announcement is unrelated to November WARN discover
Firms that make use of greater than 100 persons are required to supply 60 days’ discover of a deliberate layoff to the state below the Employee Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Southwest filed a WARN discover in Arizona on Nov. 6. In it, it reported it could want to put off 44 workers as a result of “COVID-19 associated mass furlough.”
A Southwest spokesperson confirmed that Thursday’s announcement was unrelated to the WARN discover filed in November. The airline didn’t but have a breakdown of layoffs by airport.
The Arizona Republic obtained a letter dated Dec. 3 from Bob Waltz, Vice President Flight Operations, detailing the layoff of 1,221 of the airline’s pilots. The letter states that 92 Phoenix-base pilots will lose their jobs.
The Transport Staff Union of America Native 556 represents the greater than 16,000 flight attendants at Southwest Airlines. Layoffs will have an effect on 1,500 members, although the union didn’t know but the way it that may break down amongst its 11 bases.
The union referred to as the information “the day the ‘LUV’ died” in reference to the airline’s ticker image on the New York Stock Alternate and its model primarily based on its beginnings at Love Discipline in Dallas.
“This pandemic is an incredibly tough time for everyone in the country, including our front-line workers in the air. Sending WARN Act notices either as a scare tactic or as an actual intent to furlough when other options available were not explored is about as sad as it gets. There’s no love there,” Lyn Montgomery, president of TWU Native 556, mentioned in an emailed assertion.
The pandemic and air journey: With out passengers to fill airplanes, airways are turning to cargo
How Southwest’s Phoenix operations have fared through the pandemic
Southwest is the second largest provider in Phoenix, proper behind American Airlines. It flies 217 departures a day to 58 cities out of 24 gates in Terminal 4.
Like many airways, Southwest has seen Sky Harbor as a sunny spot in the midst of the pandemic, with the local weather luring guests to the Valley.
Whereas different airways have scaled again departures, Southwest has added locations from Phoenix together with Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta in October, Palm Springs in November, Chicago O’Hare in February 2021 and Colorado Springs in March 2021.
However the pandemic has deeply minimize the variety of folks flying. In its October statistics, the latest accessible, Sky Harbor reported that 602,186 passengers flew on Southwest Airlines that month, a drop of about 55% from the 1.Three million who flew the provider in October 2019.
The airline has flown 3.Three million passengers via Sky Harbor thus far this yr, in comparison with roughly 6.Four million throughout the identical interval in 2019.
You may join with Arizona Republic Client Journey Reporter Melissa Yeager via electronic mail at melissa.yeager@azcentral.com. You can too comply with her on Twitter and Instagram.
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