Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Chicago Mercantile: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. US market indices are shown in real time, except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes. Your CNN account Log in to your CNN account “We understand that a strike authorization vote is one of the important ways pilots express their desire to get a deal done and we respect the message of voting results.” The finish line is in sight,” said American spokesperson Curtis Blessing. “We remain confident that an agreement for our pilots is within reach and can be finalized quickly. “Our negotiations continue, with talks resuming this week, and we’ll keep working … to reach an agreement that rewards our pilots.” The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association’s “authorization vote will not affect Southwest’s operation or our ability to take care of our customers,” said Adam Carlisle, vice president of labor relations at Southwest. Delta’s pilots approved a strike vote last year, and quickly reached a lucrative deal that gave them a 34% average raise.Īmerican and Southwest both said this week that they are not particularly concerned about the strike vote by its pilots. But most negotiations are settled, even after a strike vote, without a work stoppage. They virtually always pass by an overwhelming margin. Strike votes are a common negotiating tactic taken during talks. When Southwest had a service meltdown over the holidays that forced it to ground more than half its scheduled flights, it sparked a Congressional hearing to look into the problem.Īnd strike votes, in and of themselves, don’t mean that a union is going to go on strike. It’s unlikely that Congress would allow any of the four major carriers to go on strike. Those two, along with Delta and United, carry 80% of US air traffic between them. Since 1998, the 11 largest US airlines have merged to become the four largest carriers today, including Southwest and American. Northwest was then the fourth largest US airline, but back then there was far less consolidation in the industry. The last time a major airline was grounded by a strike was 25 years ago when Northwest Airlines pilots went on strike for two weeks. Spirit Airlines pilots struck for a week in 2010, but the airline was much smaller then - with only about 1% of domestic air traffic at that time. There have been airline strikes in the past, but because of the hurdle, they are very rare and generally with relatively small carriers. Ed Sicher, president of the Allied Pilots Association, the union that represents American pilots. We will strike if necessary to secure the industry-leading contract that our pilots have earned and deserve,” said Capt. Many unions have had members participate in informational pickets at major airports, at American pilots did Monday. Most airline employees have gone years without pay raises, and they have endured extremely difficult working conditions during the pandemic. This doesn’t mean that the airline unions and their members aren’t serious about going on strike if given the chance. That’s what happened with the freight railroads last December when Congress imposed a contract on the angry rail unions to keep the railroads operating. But it’s possible that Congress would act to block a strike. If the two sides can’t reach a deal during that cooling off period, the union could then go on strike - but only if Congress stays on the sideline and allows the strike to take place. But the law allows the president to step in at the last moment and order workers to stay on the job for a months-long “cooling off periods” while a presidential panel comes up with recommendations as to how to settle the deadlock. If federally mediated union negotiations reach an impasse, a union can be given permission to strike. The pilots have cleared exactly zero of those hurdles so far. Those are two of the most heavily unionized US industries, and the law places considerable hurdles in the way of any union that wants to strike. That law is the Railway Labor Act, which, despite he name, covers both rail workers and airline employees. But none of those union members will be allowed to go on strike anytime soon - if at all - under the labor law that applies to airline workers. Southwest pilots are holding a strike vote as well. American Airlines pilots voted to go on strike Monday.
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