> Subject: southwest f/a's don't get paid enough
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> Employees of 'fun' airline aren't amused
> Flight attendants say pay at Southwest is lacking; Negotiating contract
> for 2 years; Hours of unpaid tasks are routine, union says
> By Stacey Hirsh
> Sun Staff
> Originally published February 29, 2004
> After a MASH television show-themed company holiday party several years
> ago, Southwest Airlines chairman and founder Herb Kelleher strolled out
> to an airplane hangar to visit the maintenance crew in his Corporal
> Klinger costume - a long, lacey, pink dress with a floppy purple hat
> and
> gloves.
> Risque, perhaps, for a typical company, but Southwest is anything but
> typical. Employees wear sandals and Hawaiian shirts to work for tacky
> tourist day.
>
> The airline's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
> ticker LUV, apropos of its nickname as the "love" airline. The workers'
> shenanigans have even become fodder for a reality television show that
> chronicles the inner workings of the airline business.
>
> "When you have a tone set at that level, you feel like you have a lot
> of
> freedom to have fun with your co-workers and your customers," said
> Ginger Hardage, a company spokeswoman.
>
> But behind the goofs and gags of the airline that makes flying a little
> less serious, flight attendants paint a much different portrait: that
> of
> an unfair employer.
>
> The airline's flight attendants, who have been negotiating a new
> contract for nearly two years, say they are working hundreds of unpaid
> hours each year. They also say they earn below the industry average,
> while other Southwest employees are better compensated for their work.
>
> Flight attendants complain that they're not paid for time spent on such
> tasks as security checks, assisting disabled travelers or children
> flying alone, helping with luggage and cleaning the airplane between
> flights. They work an estimated 23 unpaid hours per month, they say.
>
> "Is there any other work force that goes to work five days a week and
> is
> only paid 3 1/2 days?" asked Cuyler Thompson, a Southwest flight
> attendant for nine years, during recent picketing outside
> Baltimore-Washington International Airport. "And we sing little songs
> to
> be happy about it."
>
> Southwest said it is eager to reach a contract agreement with the 7,200
> flight attendants. The company believes the workers deserve a new
> contract and pay increases, Hardage said.
>
> "We have presented a contract, and we hope the union will provide that
> directly to the flight attendants," Hardage said. "It's with
> industry-leading pay raises, profitability bonuses, stock options and
> other features that we believe our flight attendants deserve."
>
> Details of the proposed contract have not been made public.
>
> While many airlines struggle in a post-Sept. 11, 2001, price-war
> environment, Southwest turned a profit last year for its 31st
> consecutive year.
>
> Last month, the airline reported a net income of $442 million, or 54
> cents per diluted share, in 2003 - compared with a net income of $241
> million, or 30 cents per diluted share, in 2002. The airline had
> revenue
> of $5.9 billion in 2003, up from $5.5 billion in 2002.
>
> With business prospering, Southwest workers such as mechanics and
> pilots
> have seen their contracts improve, said Robert Mann, president of R.W.
> Mann & Co. Inc., an industry analyst in New York.
>
> The corporate culture at Southwest is, within the air industry,
> famously
> relaxed: Flight attendants may wear tennis shoes and walking shorts to
> work, pilots wear leather bomber jackets. When flight attendants go
> over
> safety procedures at the beginning of each flight, their lines are
> often
> delivered with a joke. Company executives once settled a battle with
> another company over an advertising slogan by holding an arm-wrestling
> match.
>
> "We like to say, 'We take the competition seriously, but we don't take
> ourselves seriously,' " Hardage said.
>
> The attitude at Southwest is so unusual that the A&E television channel
> launched a reality show on Monday nights that follows Southwest workers
> in their travels across the country.
>
> The program, Airline, portrays Southwest workers in their daily jobs,
> from manning a flight carrying penguins in the cabin to conducting an
> impromptu version of The Price Is Right while in flight in honor of a
> female passenger en route to Los Angeles to fulfill her lifelong dream
> of being on the game show.
>
> "The great thing about Southwest was that they are known for their
> antics: They've sort of put the fun back in airline travel," said
> Patrice Andrews, a supervising producer for the A&E program. "It's
> given
> us a great opportunity for more fun stories and for us to really
> develop
> their employees as characters."
>
> With more than 34,000 employees, Southwest's edge over other airlines
> comes not from its antics but from its low fares and frequent service,
> experts point out. To maintain that advantage, the airline must sustain
> its high productivity, said David Swierenga, president of AeroEcon, an
> aviation consulting firm in Vienna, Va.
>
> Southwest employees' pay is about average with the rest of the
> industry,
> Swierenga said. But for the same money, Southwest's workers are
> typically more productive than those at other airlines, he said.
>
> "If you're a 737 pilot at Southwest, you make as much money as a 737
> pilot at US Airways, maybe more, but you will fly more in order to earn
> that pay," Swierenga said.
>
> But Southwest's flight attendants argue otherwise.
>
> Thom McDaniel, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 556,
> which
> represents all Southwest Airlines' flight attendants, said that his
> members earn 20 to 30 percent less than the rest of the industry.
>
> A starting flight attendant at Southwest makes about $14,000 a year, he
> said. The median salary for a Southwest flight attendant is $24,000,
> typically after about seven years on the job.
>
> Flight attendants customarily get paid for time spent in the air - from
> the moment the cabin door closes to when it opens after landing, said
> Dawn Deeks, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants in
> Washington.
>
> "You don't get paid for your preflight briefings, you don't get paid
> for
> your layovers, you don't get paid for your time in between flights, you
> don't get paid when you report to the airport before work," Deeks said.
>
> Hardage, the Southwest spokeswoman, said the work that flight
> attendants
> do on the ground is taken into consideration in the way pay is
> structured. She added that the company has always given its employees
> job security and the freedom to be themselves at work.
>
> "Southwest has a philosophy of putting its employees first, and that is
> something that has been a mission since our very founding - that
> employees come first and if you treat employees well, they will in turn
> treat the customers well," Hardage said.
>
> The labor dispute hasn't hurt Southwest's operations, analysts said.
> And
> despite picketing last month at six airports around the country,
> including BWI, workers interviewed said they love their jobs. But they
> also say that it's tough to keep up the playful culture their employer
> is known for with a labor dispute in the backdrop.
>
> Dan McGuire, a flight attendant at Southwest for nearly five years,
> said
> that on a recent three-day trip with stops in Nashville. Tenn., and
> Indianapolis, he worked eight unpaid hours. He spends his time between
> flights taking care of children traveling alone and cleaning the
> airplane - discarding banana peels, even dirty diapers left in seat
> pockets.
>
> "We're the hardest-working flight attendants in the industry. We're the
> best airline in the world, and we're not getting paid," he said. "It's
> hard to keep working and keep up the culture if we don't feel valued.
> We
> feel like the stepchildren of the industry."
>
>
>
> Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun | Get home delivery
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> • Your 'dividend' may not qualify for last year's lower tax rates
> • Dividend tax cut brings its share of confusion
> • Wall Street advisers at center of Disney struggle
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> Baltimore Sun.
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> HOME | MARYLAND | NATION/WORLD | BUSINESS | SPORTS | ARTS/LIFE |
> OPINION
> | MARKETPLACE
> business
> Employees of 'fun' airline aren't amused
> Flight attendants say pay at Southwest is lacking; Negotiating contract
> for 2 years; Hours of unpaid tasks are routine, union says
> By Stacey Hirsh
> Sun Staff
> Originally published February 29, 2004
> After a MASH television show-themed company holiday party several years
> ago, Southwest Airlines chairman and founder Herb Kelleher strolled out
> to an airplane hangar to visit the maintenance crew in his Corporal
> Klinger costume - a long, lacey, pink dress with a floppy purple hat
> and
> gloves.
> Risque, perhaps, for a typical company, but Southwest is anything but
> typical. Employees wear sandals and Hawaiian shirts to work for tacky
> tourist day.
>
> The airline's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
> ticker LUV, apropos of its nickname as the "love" airline. The workers'
> shenanigans have even become fodder for a reality television show that
> chronicles the inner workings of the airline business.
>
> "When you have a tone set at that level, you feel like you have a lot
> of
> freedom to have fun with your co-workers and your customers," said
> Ginger Hardage, a company spokeswoman.
>
> But behind the goofs and gags of the airline that makes flying a little
> less serious, flight attendants paint a much different portrait: that
> of
> an unfair employer.
>
> The airline's flight attendants, who have been negotiating a new
> contract for nearly two years, say they are working hundreds of unpaid
> hours each year. They also say they earn below the industry average,
> while other Southwest employees are better compensated for their work.
>
> Flight attendants complain that they're not paid for time spent on such
> tasks as security checks, assisting disabled travelers or children
> flying alone, helping with luggage and cleaning the airplane between
> flights. They work an estimated 23 unpaid hours per month, they say.
>
> "Is there any other work force that goes to work five days a week and
> is
> only paid 3 1/2 days?" asked Cuyler Thompson, a Southwest flight
> attendant for nine years, during recent picketing outside
> Baltimore-Washington International Airport. "And we sing little songs
> to
> be happy about it."
>
> Southwest said it is eager to reach a contract agreement with the 7,200
> flight attendants. The company believes the workers deserve a new
> contract and pay increases, Hardage said.
>
> "We have presented a contract, and we hope the union will provide that
> directly to the flight attendants," Hardage said. "It's with
> industry-leading pay raises, profitability bonuses, stock options and
> other features that we believe our flight attendants deserve."
>
> Details of the proposed contract have not been made public.
>
> While many airlines struggle in a post-Sept. 11, 2001, price-war
> environment, Southwest turned a profit last year for its 31st
> consecutive year.
>
> Last month, the airline reported a net income of $442 million, or 54
> cents per diluted share, in 2003 - compared with a net income of $241
> million, or 30 cents per diluted share, in 2002. The airline had
> revenue
> of $5.9 billion in 2003, up from $5.5 billion in 2002.
>
> With business prospering, Southwest workers such as mechanics and
> pilots
> have seen their contracts improve, said Robert Mann, president of R.W.
> Mann & Co. Inc., an industry analyst in New York.
>
> The corporate culture at Southwest is, within the air industry,
> famously
> relaxed: Flight attendants may wear tennis shoes and walking shorts to
> work, pilots wear leather bomber jackets. When flight attendants go
> over
> safety procedures at the beginning of each flight, their lines are
> often
> delivered with a joke. Company executives once settled a battle with
> another company over an advertising slogan by holding an arm-wrestling
> match.
>
> "We like to say, 'We take the competition seriously, but we don't take
> ourselves seriously,' " Hardage said.
>
> The attitude at Southwest is so unusual that the A&E television channel
> launched a reality show on Monday nights that follows Southwest workers
> in their travels across the country.
>
> The program, Airline, portrays Southwest workers in their daily jobs,
> from manning a flight carrying penguins in the cabin to conducting an
> impromptu version of The Price Is Right while in flight in honor of a
> female passenger en route to Los Angeles to fulfill her lifelong dream
> of being on the game show.
>
> "The great thing about Southwest was that they are known for their
> antics: They've sort of put the fun back in airline travel," said
> Patrice Andrews, a supervising producer for the A&E program. "It's
> given
> us a great opportunity for more fun stories and for us to really
> develop
> their employees as characters."
>
> With more than 34,000 employees, Southwest's edge over other airlines
> comes not from its antics but from its low fares and frequent service,
> experts point out. To maintain that advantage, the airline must sustain
> its high productivity, said David Swierenga, president of AeroEcon, an
> aviation consulting firm in Vienna, Va.
>
> Southwest employees' pay is about average with the rest of the
> industry,
> Swierenga said. But for the same money, Southwest's workers are
> typically more productive than those at other airlines, he said.
>
> "If you're a 737 pilot at Southwest, you make as much money as a 737
> pilot at US Airways, maybe more, but you will fly more in order to earn
> that pay," Swierenga said.
>
> But Southwest's flight attendants argue otherwise.
>
> Thom McDaniel, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 556,
> which
> represents all Southwest Airlines' flight attendants, said that his
> members earn 20 to 30 percent less than the rest of the industry.
>
> A starting flight attendant at Southwest makes about $14,000 a year, he
> said. The median salary for a Southwest flight attendant is $24,000,
> typically after about seven years on the job.
>
> Flight attendants customarily get paid for time spent in the air - from
> the moment the cabin door closes to when it opens after landing, said
> Dawn Deeks, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants in
> Washington.
>
> "You don't get paid for your preflight briefings, you don't get paid
> for
> your layovers, you don't get paid for your time in between flights, you
> don't get paid when you report to the airport before work," Deeks said.
>
> Hardage, the Southwest spokeswoman, said the work that flight
> attendants
> do on the ground is taken into consideration in the way pay is
> structured. She added that the company has always given its employees
> job security and the freedom to be themselves at work.
>
> "Southwest has a philosophy of putting its employees first, and that is
> something that has been a mission since our very founding - that
> employees come first and if you treat employees well, they will in turn
> treat the customers well," Hardage said.
>
> The labor dispute hasn't hurt Southwest's operations, analysts said.
> And
> despite picketing last month at six airports around the country,
> including BWI, workers interviewed said they love their jobs. But they
> also say that it's tough to keep up the playful culture their employer
> is known for with a labor dispute in the backdrop.
>
> Dan McGuire, a flight attendant at Southwest for nearly five years,
> said
> that on a recent three-day trip with stops in Nashville. Tenn., and
> Indianapolis, he worked eight unpaid hours. He spends his time between
> flights taking care of children traveling alone and cleaning the
> airplane - discarding banana peels, even dirty diapers left in seat
> pockets.
>
> "We're the hardest-working flight attendants in the industry. We're the
> best airline in the world, and we're not getting paid," he said. "It's
> hard to keep working and keep up the culture if we don't feel valued.
> We
> feel like the stepchildren of the industry."
>
>
>
> Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun | Get home delivery
> Talk about it E-mail it Print it Contact us
>
> Talk about it
> E-mail it
> Print it
> Contact us
> Also see
> Business
>> Investing
>> Real Estate
>> Technology
> Columnists
>> Eileen Ambrose
>> Jay Hancock
>> Mike Himowitz
>> Kathy Kristof
> Top business headlines
> • Juiced up
> • Inflation worse to those on flat income
> • Your 'dividend' may not qualify for last year's lower tax rates
> • Dividend tax cut brings its share of confusion
> • Wall Street advisers at center of Disney struggle
> Top baltimoresun.com headlines
> • Primary race catches fire finally in Md.
> • As past rushes back, all at risk
> • Aristide bows to pressure, leaves Haiti (7:41 AM)
> • U.S. search for bin Laden gathers steam
> • Explosion on tanker off Virginia coast kills at least three
> baltimoresun.com > business
> back to top
>
>
>
> Technology | Investing | Real Estate | Stocks
> Home | Maryland | Nation/World | Business | Sports | Arts/Life |
> Opinion
> | Marketplace
>
> Contact us: Submit feedback, send a letter to the editor, submit a news
> tip, get subscription info, or place an ad.
> baltimoresun.com (tm) and sunspot.net ® are copyright © 2004 by The
> Baltimore Sun.
> Terms of Service | Privacy Policy
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