America's Work Force Union Podcast

Southwest Airlines looking for answers following cancellation debacle

Written by awfblog | January 24, 2023

Tom Buffenbarger, an independent labor voice, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and called the massive flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines in late December a debacle. 

As widely reported in the media, Southwest cancelled thousands of flights over the last 10 days of 2023 due to an issue with their crew scheduling software and a blizzard that struck portions of the U.S.

Buffenbarger called the situation a debacle and criticized the company for a failure to invest in the necessary technology needed to keep its operations running and prevent some of these events.

He also provided his thoughts on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the railroads and their unions. Congress voted on legislation to approve the CBA in order to avert a potentially economically crippling railroad strike.

The CBA however, did not give union members any sick time. Buffenbarger is concerned this will hurt the workers, as it creates a quality of life issue.

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