Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Congratulations to all our IAM members at Southwest Airlines on the ratification of your new contract. First and foremost, the new wage rates are effective immediately and will be reflected in your January 5, 2023 paycheck.
As the President-Directing General Chair of this great District 142, I am in discussions with the company related to when they can achieve implementation of the contract. So we are clear, at no time during negotiations was an implementation time table discussed. The company has expressed to me in these discussions they will do everything they can to get the entire contract implemented as quickly as possible. I spoke with the Southwest Vice President of Ground Operations, who has just released a Southwest notification to our membership, laying out a timeline of when the company believes parts of the contract will be implemented, up to a projected date of not later than January 20, 2023, for full implementation. We also have assurances from the company they will implement everything as quickly as practicable.
If there are any violations to the newly ratified contract, please follow the CBA processes which are in place in order for your leadership team to properly deal with each violation. Furthermore, I have received a commitment from the company leadership, they will properly work through any violations in order to make you whole and follow the ratified CBA language.
We will stay in constant communication with the company and inform our membership of any and all changes.
Thank you and in solidarity,
John M. Coveny, Jr.
President-Directing General Chair
