TWU Local 555 Reaches Tentative Agreement with Southwest Airlines

TWU Local 555, representing nearly 20,000 ramp, operations, provisioning and freight agents at Southwest Airlines, reached a tentative agreement on Feb. 21 on a contract that provides top-of-the-industry wage rates and average pay increases over 18 percent.   

The contract, which would provide pay increases to Southwest employees who last saw a wage increase nearly three years ago, is subject to a ratification vote.  

“This tentative agreement provides much needed raises and quality-of-life benefits for our hardworking members at airports across the country,” said TWU International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia.  

In addition to pay raises, the tentative contract crucially sets the market for ramp and operations staff across the industry, including a wage rate of $38 an hour at the top of the wage scale that is 6.6 percent above United Airlines’ current industry-leading wage rate of $35.65. The agreement also allows workers to reach the top of the pay scale faster, after 10 years of service, down from 11 years currently.   

The tentative agreement also includes an industry-best 10 percent 401 (k) match. This is the highest total 401 (k) match in the industry for this work group. And the agreement includes a $140 million lump sum bonus paid out to workers, more than double the bonus in previous iterations of the deal. 

“Our goal has always been to fight for a contract that rewards our members with the highest increases in wages, bonuses and 401k match in the industry and this tentative agreement gets us there without question,” said TWU Local 555 President Randy Barnes. “We’ve worked tirelessly to get to this point because we recognized how important it was for our members receive these improvements quickly.”