Southwest Mechanics Approve Contract With Raises

Mechanics at Southwest Airlines Co. approved a new four-year contract that calls for annual raises and bonuses and includes an agreement on the company's ability to send maintenance work abroad.

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents 2,500 of Southwest's 35,000 employees, said the contract includes raises of 3 percent each in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and 1 percent in 2012.

Workers will also get a 3 percent ratification bonus, and those at the top pay scale - about three-fourths of all mechanics - can earn another 1 percent bonus each year if they work enough hours, union national director Louie Key said Friday.

The union said the contract was approved by 60.6 percent to 38.9 percent with some abstentions. It will be signed next week in Dallas.

The union said the contract includes a side agreement that limits Southwest to operating four maintenance lines outside the United States. One line can service one plane at a time, and maintenance facilities often have several lines.

Key said Southwest has 21 lines overall, with its own employees working three of them and the rest outsourced to vendors in the United States.

Last year, the company planned to outsource some maintenance work to a company in El Salvador. The plan was shelved after Southwest ran afoul of federal safety regulators for failing to perform required inspections for cracks in the bodies of its planes and then flying the planes anyway.

The vote ratified a tentative deal reached last month between the low-cost carrier and replaces a contract that ran through last August. By federal law, labor contracts in the airline industry don't expire but can be changed at the end of their intended term.