Southwest pilots OK 2-year contract extension
Aug. 19, 2002--Pilots at Southwest Airlines ratified a two-year contract extension that will increase their pay by about 20 percent. The pilots' collective bargaining agreement will now become amendable in 2006.
The vote extends by two years what was a 10-year contract ratified in the mid-1990s, but with higher levels of pay and other changes.
Of 3,747 pilots eligible to vote, 3,606--or 96.2 percent--cast a ballot, a Southwest Airlines Pilots Association spokeswoman told FLTops.com Friday afternoon. According to the union, 68.5 percent of pilots voting did so in favor of the two-year extension. A future issue of FLTops TODAY will have further details of the contract extension.
The extension reportedly includes retroactive stock options for pilots hired since September 2001. Options for these pilots were not included in the previous contract, which also froze the number of options pilots receive (see also "Southwest offers pilots 2-year extension with 20% raise; vote scheduled for August," FLTops TODAY Archives, May 20, 2002).
Pilots also approved to accept loss-of-license insurance as a non-taxable benefit in a separate vote. Rank-and-file pilots also ratified a new constitution for the union by nearly a three-to-one margin. The new constitution takes effect Jan. 1, 2003, according to the union.
Aug. 19, 2002--Pilots at Southwest Airlines ratified a two-year contract extension that will increase their pay by about 20 percent. The pilots' collective bargaining agreement will now become amendable in 2006.
The vote extends by two years what was a 10-year contract ratified in the mid-1990s, but with higher levels of pay and other changes.
Of 3,747 pilots eligible to vote, 3,606--or 96.2 percent--cast a ballot, a Southwest Airlines Pilots Association spokeswoman told FLTops.com Friday afternoon. According to the union, 68.5 percent of pilots voting did so in favor of the two-year extension. A future issue of FLTops TODAY will have further details of the contract extension.
The extension reportedly includes retroactive stock options for pilots hired since September 2001. Options for these pilots were not included in the previous contract, which also froze the number of options pilots receive (see also "Southwest offers pilots 2-year extension with 20% raise; vote scheduled for August," FLTops TODAY Archives, May 20, 2002).
Pilots also approved to accept loss-of-license insurance as a non-taxable benefit in a separate vote. Rank-and-file pilots also ratified a new constitution for the union by nearly a three-to-one margin. The new constitution takes effect Jan. 1, 2003, according to the union.
