A couple of weeks ago Southwest Airlines named Randy Babbitt to a newly created position as its vice president of labor relations. The former FAA administrator certainly knows the airline business. In addition to his work at the FAA, Babbitt was a pilot and served as the president and CEO of the Air Line Pilots Association.
SWA has been in the news lately over labor negotiations with its ground handlers. The airline and its Transport Workers Union asked for help from federal mediators as talks stalled. In blog for Aviation Week posted earlier this month, Andrew Compart reports that the stalemate is connected with a memo sent to employees last December by CEO Gary Kelly.
“We have a cost challenge, and it is one that looms large,” Kelly said, noting in particular that “our labor rates are now, far and away, the highest in the industry.”
For our industry, this mean SWA wants to outsource ramp work and hire part-time baggage handlers.
We also blogged about this memo ourselves last June. Kelly words are worth another look considering the latest news regarding Babbitt and the stalled negotiations. The full memo was posted by another favorite blogger.
