1 min read

Season 4, Episode 22

Montgomery: Southwest meltdown was predictable and preventable

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America's Work Force Union Podcast Transport Workers Union

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Guest Name:

Lyn Montgomery

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https://twu556.org/ 

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Lyn Montgomery, President of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 556, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed Southwest Airline’s December 2022 operational failures, along with poor overall working conditions experienced by Southwest flight attendants.

TWU Local 556 represents over 18,000 Southwest Airlines flight attendants.

Montgomery addressed what she called a predictable and preventable holiday debacle, which caused the cancellation of at least 16,700  flights between Dec. 21 and Dec. 31. It was the airline’s seventh meltdown over the past 20 years. She explained that the technology used to schedule Soutwest flight crews failed and cancellations snowballed as crews could not get their assignments. The system, she said, had only received minor updates since the mid-1990s. 

As a result of the airline’s operational failure, Southwest gave its flight attendants a gratitude pay, but Montgomery said while it was a nice gesture, it did not make up for what flight attendants had to endure. 

Montgomery then spoke about the overall poor working conditions flight attendants face, including being assaulted, poor wages and flights through severe weather conditions.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics:

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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