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Normalization of Drift

Normalization of Drift

February 22, 2022

By Casey Murray, SWAPA President

Three weeks ago, your Board of Directors shared our deep concerns about ongoing command failures within Flight Ops. Last week, I discussed management’s culpability for the rise of tribalism and their failure to rally employees against a common foe. Coming off last week’s negotiations, I’d like to explain how both of those issues relate to SWA’s operational and negotiating strategies.

Last Friday, February 18, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President Mike Van de Ven seemed to be describing a different airline when he wrote, “We are right where we want to be: building operational momentum and executing with excellence…Our schedule is aligned with our staffing, using conservative assumptions for sick rates and inactive Employee levels.”

The next day, February 19, there were 50 JAs, 57 RON JAs, and 123 JA Done duty periods (reassignments when no one was left to JA). This is happening in the middle of February, with just under 3,100 daily flights. Wait until our normal seasonal ramp-up occurs.

A year ago this month, SWAPA raised the alarm when management put commercial plans ahead of both our internal and external customers, but did nothing to fix ongoing problems until it was too late. We are telling management that the operation is once again on track for another grim summer based upon their inability to hire and train Pilots and other frontline employees. Six months from now, when the operation is failing because we aren’t staffed according to the spreadsheet plan, our COO and his managers will seem surprised at our Company’s inability to recruit and retain skilled employees. They will learn the hard way that the magical aura of Southwest that brought many of us here has dimmed thanks to years of news organizations covering their ever-increasing failures to lead.

In the Company’s own words, Mr. Van de Ven and his managers have fallen victim to “normalization of drift.” Many of us remember the original Midway Meltdown. At the time, it felt like our airline was facing an existential threat, but just three weeks ago, we had nearly twice as many cancellations in MDW as the worst day in 2014 — and no one even noticed.

These situations are becoming the norm. The Company’s seeming lack of concern has forced SWAPA to send daily execution data, including the JA numbers, to key managers at SWA since October. When management makes statements like “you deserve to fly what you bid,” but then does nothing about it, they are either oblivious or they are actively gaslighting their employees. Both of those possibilities are unforgivable.

Two weeks ago, Carl Kuwitzky wrote in a Labor Relations update that he intends to stick with 50-year-old language that the Company "is comfortable with." His statement reinforces the fact that those in headquarters have normalized our operational drift, and they tacitly endorse the failures allowed by their interpretations of our CBA and scheduling policies that no longer work. Since that time, Labor Relations has proudly reported to our Pilots that it is offering “luggage protection when on Company business including deadhead and jumpseat.” Not exactly an industry-leading offering.

Our team opened Contract 2020 negotiations with Scheduling and Training because we recognize the urgency of the operational threats that we are facing now and in the near future. Mr. Kuwitzky's team opened with Standardization, Transfer to Supervisor, Seniority, General, and Dues sections. That speaks volumes to his team’s priorities and his own failure to lead.

Our committees have taken on his team’s work and produced a systematic framework of solutions built on language, data, and costing. With our data-driven and productivity-increasing proposal in hand, Mr. Kuwitzky has decided on a single negotiation tactic: delay. After more than two years of holding our proposed language and eight months of being spoon-fed Contract 2020 line-by-line, Labor Relations basically said, "Just kidding, we’re not going to give a comprehensive counterproposal because we’re happy with the current out-of-date CBA to complement our out-of-date solutions.” Mr. Kuwitzky has delayed negotiations time and time again during the most threatening environment our industry has ever endured.

As Bob Jordan begins his tenure as CEO, it’s going to be up to him to demand solutions to these ongoing failures. As I have stated before, I am cautiously optimistic that change can be affected, but absent that change, SWAPA is fully prepared to achieve a contract worthy of the best and most productive Pilots in the industry, by whatever means necessary.