1 min read

Season 3, Episode 152

Poor working conditions causes flight delays and cancellations

transport workers local 555

 

Guest Name:

Randy Barnes

Guest Website:

www.twu555.org

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Randy Barnes, President of Transport Workers Union Local 555, appeared on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed how decisions by Southwest Airlines management has led to poor working conditions and high worker turnover, which ultimately caused some flights to be delayed or canceled. 

Local 555 has members in over 100 different cities.

Barnes claimed Southwest Airlines’ abusive culture, mistreatment of workers and general mismanagement is driving worker turnover. The airline is forcing ramp workers and members of Local 555 to work more than 16- hour work days, oftentimes with no lunch or water breaks. Southwest is also denying workers their paid time-off. By enforcing these extreme working conditions, Southwest is violating its union contract and putting workers and passengers in harm’s way, he said.

Southwest also recently transitioned to a hybrid business model between “Point to Point” and “Hub and Spoke,” he explained. In the process, they failed to hire and retain enough workers to meet the needs of this new model. As a result, Barnes believes there will be more flight delays and cancellations. 

Listen to the entire episode to hear 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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