Southwest furloughs could include workers at McCarran
Las Vegas’ busiest airline has notified the state that it could furlough hundreds of workers at McCarran International Airport unless it reaches cost-saving agreements with its unions.
Southwest Airlines notified the Nevada unemployment agency in early December that the company may furlough 380 workers in the coming months: Pilots, flight attendants, customer service representatives and ramp agents are among the jobs impacted.
The carrier had said earlier this month that it would send Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices to various state agencies about impending furloughs for more than 6,800 employees nationwide.
A spokesman for Southwest said in a statement Friday that “if potential furloughs happen, they would be temporary and designed to address overstaffing costs across our network during a sustained drop in air travel demand.” The furloughs, the spokesman said, would not impact flight service levels at McCarran.
In Southwest’s Dec. 3 letter to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, the Dallas-based carrier said it would have to “unfortunately involuntarily” furlough the workers if it can’t reach new deals with the unions.
Southwest said it has been working with its unions since October to negotiate cost reductions. “After over two months of discussions, we have not made meaningful progress,” the company stated in its letter to the state.
Like many other airliners, Southwest saw domestic air travel decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Airline workers received financial help through the CARES Act’s Payroll Support Program, which kept employees on payroll through Sept. 30.
The airline said in its letter that with the program’s expiration and “no clarity that Congress will extend it in the future, Southwest must take further action to reduce our costs associated with employee salaries, wages, and benefits — the largest cost category by far.”
The furloughs for ground crews and customer service representatives based at McCarran would take place in mid-March. Furloughs for pilots and flight attendants would start in early April, the company said.
The furloughs are expected to last more than six months, but Southwest said they will be temporary.
Contact Jonathan Ng at jng@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ByJonathanNg on Twitter.
