While Southwest Airlines continues to feed the public and media the myth that there has never been a furlough in its history, your Union never forgets. Management has decided to threaten layoffs, which they entirely control. However, your rights under the contract continue to exist, just as they have in every other reduction in force during Southwest’s history. These provisions applied in 2004 when over 1,900 CS&S employees were furloughed from the DAL, LIT and SLC reservations facilities. They also applied in 2014 to CSAs in JAN and EWR, in 2017 to CSAs in DAY and CAK, and in 2018 to CSAs in FNT.
For Southwest to pretend these employees never existed is a slap in the face to their sacrifice and forced reduction, and disrespectful to every other Southwest employee working today. The media may not be interested in verifying the Southwest line they are fed, but our fight is not there. Our job is to protect the integrity of the Contract our members fought hard to get and continue the fight to keep.
It is important that you know your contractual rights should Southwest follow through with their threat of furlough/layoff. Your contract provides:
- Article 10.1.B and 10.2.B: No full-time employee furloughed or displaced with a part-time employee.
- Article 10.1.N and 10.2.N: Part-time employees will be credited with 70% of their classification seniority upon bid and award of a Full-time position.
- Article 10.1.O and 10.2.O: All Part-time furloughed at a Center/Station furloughed prior to full-time.
- Article 15 A: Reduction in force in reverse seniority order, four (4) week notice of furlough.
- Article 15 B: 1) Fill vacancy/displace system in classification. 2) Fill vacancy/displace system in another classification where seniority is held. 3) Accept furlough at location. 4) Resign from Company w/ severance.
- Article 15 C: Company paid moving for relocation.
- Article 15 D: Furlough notification and all pertinent information for exercising options.
- Article 15 E: Company to award bids in Seniority order.
- Article 15 F: Employee responsible maintaining proper accurate address on file.
- Article 15 G: Reasons why an employee will not have preference to reemployment.
- Article 15 H: Recall from furlough.
- Article 15 I: Accrual of seniority while on furlough.
- Article 15 J: Employees not able to displace and wanting to.
- Article 15 K: 5-year expiration of all recall rights.
- Article 16 A. B. C. Severance pay accrual rate, five-year option to exercise and eligibility.
Contact your local union representative with questions about this process. In addition, tell management that NO Southwest IAM represented employee should be furloughed. You contribute to Southwest every payday for the work you do without the raises every other employee took since 2018. Those contributions help the airline continue to operate.
